Paris Museum Exhibitions For 2024 – Paris Better Than Ever

There is always a lot going on in Paris and that includes at the city's museums. The 2024 museum calendar reveals another exciting lineup of new exhibitions at musées in every corner of the city — at the Louvre, at Musée d'Orsay, Centre Pompidou, Quai Branly, the Petit Palais — even the Picasso Museum. Let's take a look, museum by museum.

Museum Exhibitions at the Louvre 2024

The Louvre & the Pyramid, photo by Mark Craft

When the most popular museum in the world announces its new exhibitions art lovers sit up and pay attention. The Louvre Museum has the most extensive art collection in the world — from Leonardo da Vinci to the Venus de Milo to Greek and Egyptian sculpture — but the special exhibitions are also events that you don't want to miss. Here's what's coming up.

Claude Gillot

French artist Claude Gillot (1673-1722) was a jack-of-all-trades — painter, engraver metal worker, theatre designer — who apprenticed under Watteau. But it's his whimsical rococo drawings that brought him attention and popularity among the Paris bourgeoisie in the late 17th century.

• Louvre Museum
• Ends February 12, 2024

Near Eastern Antiquities in Dialogue

See ten ancient artworks from central Asia, Syria, Iran and Mesopotamia on loan from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dating from the 4th millennium BCE to the 5th century CE, this remarkable exhibition pairs ancient sculptures reunited for the first time in modern times.

• Louvre Museum
• February 29, 2024 to September 29, 2025

A New Look for Van Eyck

The first exhibition since 2014 to focus on Jan van Eyck's masterpiece, the Madonna of Chancellor Rolin. During the past decade, conservators have removed layers of varnish restoring the oeuvre to its former glory.

• Louvre Museum
• March 20 to June 17, 2024

Olympism: Modern Invention, Ancient Legacy

Discover the roots of the first modern Olympic Games, and how the sporting competition of ancient Greece was reinvented in modern times. The exhibition will show how history and archaeology came together to create the world's greatest and most-watched sporting event.

• Louvre Museum
• April 24 to September 16, 2024

Figures of the Fool

This ambitious exhibition will focus on the medieval figure of the fool through 300 works of art — from ivories, boxes, small bronzes, medals, drawings, prints to paintings and tapestries.

• Louvre Museum
• October 16, 2024 to February 3, 2025

A New Look at Watteau's Pierrot

Formerly known as Gilles, Watteau's Pierrot is one of the most famous masterpieces in the Louvre's collection. Discovered by the Director of the Louvre during the time of Napoleon, it garnered praise from writers and art historians for its mischievous and melancholy mood. It will be seen for first time since undergoing extensive restoration.

• Louvre Museum
• October 16, 2024 to February 3, 2025

Guillaume Guillon-Lethière

The first major exhibition to focus on this French neoclassical artist (1760-1832) who faded from fame but was celebrated during his lifetime for his oeuvre, The Oath of the Ancestors, an anti-slavery manifesto advocating freedom for all peoples. His mother was a freed slave and his father was a French colonial official.

• Louvre Museum
November 13, 2024 to February 17, 2025

Museum Exhibitions at Musée d'Orsay 2024

Musée d'Orsay from the Seine, photo by Mark Craft

Once a Belle Epoque train station, in 1986 Musée d'Orsay was transformed into the world's greatest museum dedicated to Impressionism and 19th century art. A few years ago the museum was given a facelift with a nifty reshuffling of the paintings and a new paint job to better highlight the artwork. (White walls are so 20th century.)

Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise – The Final Months

This is the first exhibition devoted to van Gogh's final and important stage of his artistic career. During the last two months of his life, van Gogh produced a vast number of paintings while living in the small village of Auvers-sur-Oise. Many would become masterpieces. Don't miss this exhibition!

• Musée d'Orsay
• Ends February 4, 2024
• Information…

Hector Guimard & the Paris Metro

In 1899 Architect Hector Guimard won the competition held by the Compagnie Générale du Métropolitain to design the entrances to the stations of the brand-new Metro system, le plus modern mode of transportation. His inspired designs set the tone of Paris for the 20th century. Learn about the history of Guimard and see his original drawings exhibited for the first time!

• Musée d'Orsay
• February 10 to May 12, 2024
• Information…

Paris 1874

2024 is the the 150th anniversary of Impressionism! On April 15, 1874, the first exhibition by Monet, Renoir, Degas, Morisot, Pissarro, Sisley, Cézanne and 28 other painters was held outside of the official Paris Salon exhibition. See 130 works by these legendary artists and discover details about Paris in 1874.

• Musée d'Orsay
• March 26 to July 14, 2024
• Information…

1874 – The Immersive Experience

Experience the first Impressionist exhibition through virtual reality. It's Paris, April 15, 1874; 30 painters are presenting 165 of their works, all rejected by the official Paris Salon. Claude Monet, Renoir, Berthe Morisot, Cézanne, and Edgar Degas changed the history of art. This immersive experience brings together architectural plans, aerial photographs, studio archives as well as reviews by journalists and critics of the time

• Musée d'Orsay
• March 26 to August 11, 2024
• Information…

Harriet Backer – The Music of Color

The first retrospective of Harriet Backer's(1845-1932) work in France. Although little is known about her outside her native Norway, Backer was the most renowned woman artist of the late 19th century. You will fall in love with her tender portraits of rural Norwegian life.

• Musée d'Orsay
• September 24, 2024 to January 12, 2025
• Information…

Gustave Caillebotte – Painting Men

Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894), famous for his masculine subjects, changed art history's perspective on 19th-century masculinity. He introduced new subjects into his art — from housepainters to sportsmen to male nudes. Caillebotte's bold art bridged the gap between Impressionism and Modernism.

• Musée d'Orsay
• October 8, 2024 to January 19, 2025
• Information…

Museum Exhibitions at Centre Pompidou

Centre Pompidou with it's infamous inside-out design

It's been over five decades since the opening of the Pompidou in 1970 and for 2024 the modern art hits just keep on coming with fascinating exhibits for modern museum goers. Visit as much as you can this year, before the museum closes for yet another renovation slated to last three years. (In the world of Paris museum renovations, three years usually means five!)

Chagall – Drawings, Ceramics And Sculptures, 1945-1970

The colorful exhibition brings together dazzling drawings, ceramics and sculptures by Marc Chagall including costume drawings for Igor Stravinsky's ballet, The Firebird.

• Centre Pompidou
• Ends February 26, 2024
• Information…

Exhibitions at Musée du Quai Branly 2024

Color blocking at Musée du Quai Branly

Dedicated to the study of mankind and the world, Musée du Quai Branly showcases world cultures — African, Asian, Oceania, and the Americas. The museum is relatively new to the landscape of Paris museums, opening in 2006. It's very close to the Eiffel Tower.

Architect Jean Nouvel gets around. After he designed the controversial Institute du Monde Arabe in Paris, he went onto to create Musée du Quai Branly. The museum is a jumble of forms that also features tranquil gardens with a natural aesthetic — no formal French gardens, no lawns, no lavish entrance staircase. Instead, the garden is a series of small landscapes with native French plants.

Shaman Visions from the Peruvian Amazon

Art under the influence. Ayahuasca — a hallucinogenic drink used by indigenous societies in the Amazon — was popularization by the Beat Generation of the 1950s. Traditionally administered by a shaman for therapeutic or religious purposes, the psychedelic beverage is also linked to artistic creation. View visionary images created under the influence by indigenous artists and by Beat legends William S. Burroughs & Allen Ginsberg.

• Musée du Quai Branly
• Ends May 26, 2024
• Information…

Petit Palais Exhibitions 2024

The Petit Palais, photo by Mark Craft

If you're in the mood for a small museum, make your way to the impossibly adorable Petit Palais, found directly across the street from big brother, the Grand Palais on Avenue Winston Churchill in the 8th Arrondissement (easy walking distance from Place de la Concorde). Built for the 1900 Universal Expo, the Petit Palais is now the home to the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Paris, the city's fine arts museum. There's a pretty interior courtyard and a cafe to relax in before or after viewing the museum. We always stop in when we're in the area, especially since it's free!

Treasures in Black & White

See the most beautiful pieces from the collection of the Petit Palais featuring a panorama of prints from the 15th to the 20th centuries. Dürer to Rembrandt, Callot to Goya, hundreds of prints by the great masters will be on display.

• Petit Palais
• Ends January 14, 2024
• Information…

The Paris of Modernity

The Modern Age (1905 to 1925) was a period when Paris exploded with an artistic and cultural energy that continues to dazzle us today. This exhibition explores fashion, cinema, photography, painting, sculpture, drawing, design, and architecture from this pivotal era in the history of Paris.

• Petit Palais
• Ends April 14, 2024
• Information…

Le Corps en Mouvement

To celebrate the Paris Olympics and the Paralympic Games, the Petit Palais celebrates The Body in Motion with a journey through its permanent collection. Fifty works from antiquity to the 20th century trace the origins of the Olympic Games with paintings, sculptures, art objects, drawings and prints.

• Petit Palais
• May 15 to November 17, 2024
• Information…

Musée Picasso 2024

Musée Picasso, photo from Musée Picasso by Fabien Campoverde

The Musée Picasso is a jewel set in the Marais, set in the historic and grand Hotel Salé. There are over 5,000 works that cover Picasso's paintings, sculptures, engravings, drawings, studies, drafts, notebooks, etchings and letters. If you are a Picasso fan, this is a must-see destination in Paris.

La Collection – Revoir Picasso

In 2014 Pablo Picasso's most important public collection was permanently installed in the lavish setting of the Hôtel Salé, a mansion in the Marais. A decade later, the museum is paying homage with a three-year retrospective starting with a tribute to Françoise Gilot. Beyond her famous book, Living with Picasso, published in 1965, Gilot's career spanned from Réalités nouvelles to her large compositions of the emblematic paintings of the 1980s.

• Musée Picasso
• March 12, 2024 to March 12, 2027
• Information…

Musée de l'Orangerie 2024

At Musée de l'Orangerie, photo by Mark Craft

Tucked into the Jardin des Tuileries right at the Place de la Concorde, the 1852 stone structure facing the Seine was once the greenhouse that helped to nurture orange trees for the garden. (There's also an orangerie in the Jardin du Luxembourg, and it's still used to store plants during the winter.) Now, it's home to Monet's stellar waterlily murals. But, the Orangerie Museum has more artistic surprises in store, including this year's exhibitions.

Amélie Bertrand

Born in 1985, Amélie Bertrand became famous immediately after graduating from the Ecole Beaux-Arts in Marseille. In 2022, she collaborated with Louis Vuitton to create the limited edition Artycapucines collection. Her art explores surrealist motifs that are as equally enticing as they are disconcerting.

• Musée de l'Orangerie
• October 2, 2024 to January 27, 2025
• Information…

A Dealer & His Collection

Heinz Berggruen, a German-born art collector and dealer, built an exceptional collection of 20th century masters. This exhibition explores his relationship with the artists he represented and his cultural network in post-war Paris. Features works by Picasso, Klee, Matisse & Giacometti.

• Musée de l'Orangerie
• October 2, 2024 to January 27, 202
• Information…

Robert Ryman: The Eye in Action

This is American artist Robert Ryman's (1930-2019) first large-scale exhibition in France since 1981. Regarded as the founder of the American Minimalist movement, Ryman's unique approach focussed on surface, space and light.

• Musée de l'Orangerie
• March 6 to July 1, 2024
• Information…

Musée Marmottan-Monet

If you love Claude Monet and the Impressionists you won't want to miss Musée Marmottan-Monet in the 16th Arrondissement. (Its name is a clue!) Set at the foot of charming Parc Ranlegh in the posh neighborhood of Passy, this museum contains the largest collection of Monet paintings in the world. Claude's son Michel left his father's art to the state of France at the time of his death in 1966, including the iconic Impression: Sunrise, the painting that gave the movement its name.

Musée Carnavalet

Musée Carnavalet, photo Musée Carnavalet

After a renovation five years in the making, with a €58 million total budget, Musée Carnavalet reopened just as the 2021 lockdown first eased in Paris. The once-rambling museum of the history of the city of Paris has been modernized under the guiding hand of François Châtillon, chief architect for France's historical monuments.

The whole place has been updated with ramps and lifts and a couple of swooping spiral staircases. Some of the paintings, sculptures, and posters have been lowered so kids can see them as well. New digital displays have also been created. As a City of Paris museum, entrance to the permanent collection is free with a small admission charged for certain temporary exhibitions.

• Website…

La Fontaine des Innocents

Delve into the Fountain of the Innocents during its massive restoration. Built during the Renaissance, this monument, originally called the Fountain of the Nymphs, was sculpted by Jean Goujon and designed by the architect Pierre Lescot. Discover the history and restoration of this famous fountain now located in the Marais.

• Musée Carnavalet
• April 24, 2024 to August 25, 2024
• Information…

Musée de la Vie Romantique

Once you've spent time at the big museums of Paris, you may want to get off the tourist track to take in one of the most relaxing, charming, and romantic museums in Paris. Visit the website for exhibition updates.

Maison de Victor Hugo

Place des Vosges, photo by Mark Craft

In a 17th-century townhouse on classic Place des Vosges is the Paris home of novelist Victor Hugo, now a museum of his life and work. La Maison has recently been renovated and now sports added space, restored treasures, and new acquisitions. The upgrades also include a tea room and a small garden to relax in. Definitely a treasure among the small museums of Paris. Visit the website for exhibition updates…