10 exhibitions not to be missed in Paris during the FIAC

1. Georg Baselitz at the Centre Pompidou

At the age of 83, Georg Baselitz is what can be called a monument of painting. The German, who has often been described as a “neo-expressionist”, has left his mark on the pictorial medium with his expressive approach to the face and the human body, which he has tirelessly depicted upside down since 1968. Recognized by many institutions, the artist is now in the spotlight at the Centre Pompidou, which chronologically retraces six decades of creation.

From October 20, 2021 to March 7, 2022, Paris 4th.

2. Marlène Dumas at the Musée d’Orsay

In 1821, one of the greatest French poets was born : Charles Baudelaire. Inspired by his writings, and in particular by his posthumous collection of poems Le Spleen de Paris, the South African painter Marlene Dumas has drawn fourteen unpublished portraits that she is exhibiting at the Musée d’Orsay to celebrate the bicentenary of the poet’s birth. In the exhibition, three other of his tender and intimate paintings dialogue with the institution’s collections.

Until January 30, 2022 at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris 7th.

3. Martin Margiela at Lafayette Anticipations

After being dedicated to the Palais Galliera and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in 2018, Martin Margiela is taking over the walls of the Lafayette Anticipations Foundation. This time, the discreet Belgian designer is not celebrated for his radical and conceptual fashion but intervenes as an artist and curator, transforming the building into a labyrinth punctuated by installations, photographs and new films.

From October 20, 2021 to January 2, 2022 at Lafayette Anticipations, Paris 4th.

4. Anne Imhof’s performances at the Palais de Tokyo

Last May, the Palais de Tokyo unveiled the carte blanche offered to the German artist Anne Imhof, a visual, plastic and sound symphony that turns the museum’s architecture upside down to present her works with those of 28 artists who inspire her. A project that is being discovered this week in a new light through a series of performances orchestrated by the forty-year-old: as in her acclaimed work Faust, presented in 2017 at the German Pavilion in Venice, her performers will take possession of the building every evening for four hours straight.

From 14 to 18 and from 21 to 24 October at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris 16th.

5. Ceramics in all their splendour at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris

In recent years, ceramics have been popular in the art world, although its origins date back to the Neolithic era. Through more than 350 pieces ranging from the end of prehistory to the present day, the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris celebrates this ancestral practice by insisting on both its techniques and its uses, from Greek vases of Antiquity to Nok pottery in Central Africa. The exhibition also features its recent transformations by the greats of modern and contemporary art, such as Cindy Sherman, Miquel Barceló, Theaster Gates and Marcel Duchamp, whose famous fountain is on display.

Until February 6, 2022 at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris 16th.

6. The 65th edition of the Salon de Montrouge

Created in 1955, the Salon de Montrouge has since become an institution as well as a renowned pioneer of the new talents that shape French contemporary art. After postponing the dates of its 65th edition due to the pandemic, it can finally open its doors and is taking advantage of the abundant context of the FIAC. Fifty French artists or artists linked to France, such as Sara Sadik or Gaspar Willmann,  will jointly present their space and four of them will even receive a prize. Performances, workshops and an auction will also enhance the nine days of this event south of Paris.

From 22 to 31 October at the Belfry of Montrouge.

7. Leonor Antunes at the Beaux-arts de Paris

Whether it is through drawing on the floor or suspended ropes, Leonor Antunes’ works always have the same objective: to question the viewer’s relationship to space. As part of the Autumn Festival, the Portuguese artist takes over the Chapel of the Petits-Augustins of the School of Fine Arts in Paris, filled with reproductions of paintings and sculptures. Inspired by this historic setting and the work of designer Charlotte Perriand and Japanese artist Michiko Yamawaki, the forty-year-old takes their forms to transform the space with the help of colorful ceramic carpets, geometric sculptures and metallic lamps.

Until November 28 at the Ecole des Beaux-arts, Paris 6th.

8. Özgür Kar and Bianca Bondi at the Fondation Louis Vuitton

Known for its large-scale exhibitions of well-known artists, the Fondation Louis Vuitton does not neglect the youngest talents in contemporary art. For the past three years, the institution has given them carte blanche to take over one of its many rooms with an in situ project. In addition to the impressive masterpieces of modern art in the Morozov collection, you can currently discover a sumptuous indoor garden filled with salt and coloured waters by the alchemist of South African art Bianca Bondi, while in another space, two skeletons imagined by the Turkish Özgür Kar Sleeping on black screens create a joyfully macabre atmosphere.

Until February 24, 2022 at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris 16th.

9. David Hockney at the Musée de l’Orangerie

A long-time resident of California and fascinated by its landscapes, then by those of Yorkshire in England, David Hockney later expressed his love for the French West by taking up residence in Normandy in 2019. In the middle of the countryside, the famous Briton, now the most expensive painter in his lifetime, took advantage of the lockdown to make many spring landscape paintings on canvas and iPad. At the Musée de l’Orangerie, several of them come together in a long frieze, a pictorial account of a year in this region where the artist’s house and its surroundings are awakened by its shades of bright greens, yellows and azure blues.

Until February 14, 2022 at the Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris 1st.

10. Jeanne Vicerial at the Magasins Généraux

At the frontier of art and fashion, Jeanne Vicerial’s work pursues an ambitious quest : that of rethinking the links between the body, clothing and its manufacture in light of the issues that underlie the textile industry. The former resident of the Villa Medici, who invented the concept of ready-to-measure and knitting, has since created sculptures and costumes based on threads, ropes and even flowers on which she casts the meticulous gaze of a laboratory assistant. For its first solo exhibition, this laboratory is deployed at the Magasins généraux under the name of “Clinique vestimentaire”.

From October 16 to November 14 at the Magasins Généraux, Pantin.