Major exhibitions in Paris in 2026

The first quarter of 2026 is particularly busy! Some major exhibitions come to an end in January or February, while others mark the start of an ambitious new cultural season. For lovers of art, architecture or photography, here’s a selection of major exhibitions to discover before it’s too late. And those to be announced later this year.

10 new exhibitions to discover in early 2026

Leonora Carrington at the Musée du Luxembourg

February 18 – July 19, 2026
The Musée du Luxembourg presents a major retrospective devoted to Leonora Carrington, a major figure of Surrealism. Through paintings, sculptures and drawings, the event illuminates the artist’s dreamlike universe, often linked to the reconfiguration of the body, space and the visual imagination – themes dear to contemporary fashion and design culture.
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Fashion in majesty at the Musée des Arts et Métiers

February 18 – July 5, 2026
The Musée des Arts et Métiers celebrates the many textile traditions and stylistic expressions in “La mode en majesté”, an exhibition that explores haute couture, craftsmanship and the cultural heritage of fashion through the centuries and across techniques. This major retrospective highlights how clothing has shaped and continues to transform our relationship with craftsmanship and design.
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Art & music dialogue at the Philharmonie de Paris

From February 2026
An immersive experience between sounds and images. The exhibition explores how music and visual art influence each other. Sound installations, hybrid works and a sensory journey await visitors.
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Renoir Dessinateur at the Musée d’Orsay

From March 2026
The Musée d’Orsay explores Renoir’s drawings for the first time. Preparations for painting, sketches or stand-alone drawings: a more intimate facet of the Impressionist master is revealed, revealing a sensuality of line as striking as his painterly touch.
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Olivier Saillard at the Musée vivant de la mode at the Fondation Cartier

March 6 – 21, 2026
At the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, the iconic Olivier Saillard (former artistic director of the Palais Galliera) presents Le Musée vivant de la mode, an original exhibition combining installations, performances and reflections on clothing. A veritable staging of fashion as a living language, this immersive exhibition challenges conventions and questions our relationship with clothing.
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Alexandre Lenoir at the Musée de l’Orangerie

From March 25, 2026
Historian and curator, Lenoir played a key role in safeguarding art treasures during the French Revolution. This exhibition evokes his pioneering work through objects, archives and major works. A tribute to French artistic memory.
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Contemporary African fashion at the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac

From spring 2026
Vibrant textiles, committed creations and emerging designers: the exhibition unveils the richness of the contemporary African fashion scene. A panorama as aesthetic as it is political.
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Not forgetting those starting in late 2025

Magdalena Abakanowicz at the Musée Bourdelle

Until April 12, 2026 (extension possible)
The Musée Bourdelle presents a retrospective of the work of Magdalena Abakanowicz, a sculptor and visual artist whose monumental creations have influenced fashion, textile sculpture and the visual arts. The Abakans – her emblematic fiber works – have inspired many designers with their structure, material and immersive presence.
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1925-2025. One Hundred Years of Art Deco at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs

Until April 26, 2026
The Musée des Arts Décoratifs celebrates a century of Art Deco, a movement that profoundly influenced fashion, design and architecture. Through nearly 1,000 works, the exhibition traces the rise of this elegant style, from the Dior silhouettes of the 1920s to contemporary reinterpretations. An essential exhibition for understanding the links between couture, geometric lines and modern aesthetics.
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Weaving, embroidering, sublimating at the Palais Galliera
From December 13, 2025

The exhibition celebrates the skills of haute couture excellence: embroidery, weaving, lace and ornamentation, from the XVIIIᵉ century to the present day. Through archival gowns, sketches and contemporary pieces, the tour pays tribute to the golden hands that sublimate fashion.
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Exhibitions ending in Q1 2026

Jacques-Louis David, the breath of the Revolution
Musée du Louvre. Until the end of January 2026

This retrospective devoted to Jacques-Louis David is one of the cultural highlights of the winter season. A central figure of neoclassicism, David was much more than a painter: he was a committed witness to the French Revolution. The exhibition brings together major paintings, preparatory sketches, drawings and archives, enabling us to understand how the artist shaped an aesthetic at the service of history and politics.
The exhibition highlights not only his great historical compositions, but also his lasting influence on several generations of European artists. We discover a David who was a strategist of images, a master of visual narrative, capable of transforming a historical scene into a universal symbol. A dense, erudite exhibition, a must-see before it closes in January.

Kandinsky, the music of colors
Philharmonie de Paris. Until early February 2026

This immersive exhibition explores the fundamental link between music and abstraction in the work of Vassily Kandinsky. Convinced that colors possess a sonic vibration, the artist spent his entire life seeking to paint music. The exhibition combines paintings, graphic works, sound devices and immersive installations. Visitors are invited to feel Kandinsky’s art as much as to understand it. The fluid, sensory scenography brings sound and form into dialogue, offering a renewed reading of abstraction. An ideal exhibition for a curious public, sensitive to the overall artistic experience, and one to be discovered quickly before it closes in February.

Fabienne Verdier, Mute
Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine. Until mid-February 2026

With Mute, Fabienne Verdier offers an almost meditative experience. Known for her powerful pictorial gestures inspired by Chinese calligraphy, the artist presents here a series of large-scale canvases in which silence, movement and matter engage in dialogue.
The monumental works occupy the space with a rare intensity, inviting visitors to slow down, observe and feel. Somewhere between abstraction and raw energy, this exhibition captivates as much by its visual force as by its contemplative dimension. An artistic interlude not to be missed before the exhibition closes in February.

Georges de La Tour, chiaroscuro revealed
Musée Jacquemart-André. Until the end of February 2026

This exceptional exhibition pays tribute to one of the greatest masters of chiaroscuro. Georges de La Tour fascinates with his nocturnal, candlelit scenes, imbued with silence and mystery. The exhibition brings together major works rarely presented together in France.
The scenography highlights the dramatic power of his paintings and the subtlety of his treatment of light. A plunge into an intimate, spiritual and profoundly modern universe, to be discovered before the end of winter.

Paris 1925, birth of Art Deco
Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine. Until end of March 2026

This exhibition traces the impact of the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs, the founding moment of Art Deco. Through models, drawings, objects and photographs, it tells the story of how Paris became the capital of a modern, elegant and structuring style.
A fascinating journey to understand the architectural and aesthetic heritage that still marks the city today.

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