The best art exhibitions in Paris right now: Three shows worth getting lost in
Discover the best art exhibitions in Paris this season, from Matisse to Hilma af Klint and Nan Goldin, through a designer’s eyes
Looking for the best art exhibitions in Paris right now? This summer, some of Europe’s most talked-about expositions are on view at the Grand Palais, where major shows dedicated to Henri Matisse, Hilma af Klint, and Nan Goldin are drawing visitors from around the world. In this piece, designer, professor, and alumna Constanza Coscia reflects on three standout exhibitions and what they offer to those seeking creative inspiration. Whether you’re planning a cultural trip to Paris, exploring the city’s rich museum scene, or simply wondering which shows deserve a place on your itinerary, this is a personal guide to experiences worth getting lost in.
What Do Designers Do When Creative Block Strikes?
Being a freelance designer comes with many perks: you set your own schedule, work from wherever in the world, and choose projects you want to invest in. If you know how to manage it, it can be an almost perfect life. Almost. There are downsides, too—clients ghosting you, not getting paid on time, and worst of all: creative block.
You stare at your screen for hours, scratching your head and not knowing how to tackle a project. You curse yourself and wonder why you didn’t choose a more straightforward career—something like accounting. You sigh, you grab a coffee, you glare at the screen some more. Then it hits you: no office clock dictating your day, no one waiting for you at a desk or forcing you to work nine to five. So you close the laptop and go out into the real world to find inspiration.
Why Paris Remains the Ultimate Source of Creative Inspiration
Depending on where you find yourself in the world, you will discover unique ways to spark new ideas. As a designer based in Milan, I often visit Palazzo Reale for the latest exhibitions or Villa Necchi to draw inspiration from Milanese architecture. Recently, however, I found myself working in Paris while visiting a friend. And boy, did Paris help inspire me.
There’s no better city to fuel a freelancer’s creativity—especially right now, on the cusp between spring and summer, when Paris comes alive with gallery openings, little pop-ups and, of course, world-class museum exhibitions.
If you find yourself wandering the streets of Paris looking for a fresh perspective, don’t miss these three remarkable exhibitions now on view.
How Henri Matisse Reinvented Himself at Nearly Eighty
Matisse: 1941–1954
March 24 – July 26, 2026
Grand Palais
If you are a designer—visual, fashion, interior, you name it—you know who Henri Matisse is. Throughout his prolific career, Matisse was the ultimate visual artist: painter, printmaker, sculptor, collage artist, and more. The Grand Palais exhibition explores the final years of his career through more than 300 works, including paintings, drawings, cut-out gouaches, illustrated books, textiles, and stained glass.
The journey through the palace shows how the artist reinvented himself at nearly eighty, experimenting with different media—especially cut-out gouache. With bright colours and simplified forms, you’ll encounter major ensembles from the album Jazz (where Matisse radically reimagined the illustrated book using cut-outs, or “drawing with scissors”), his famous brush-and-ink drawings, principal elements from the Chapelle de Vence (the chapel in Vence which he designed), and his celebrated cut-out figures, La Tristesse du roi, Zulma, La Danseuse créole, and the famous Nus bleus.
The Matisse: 1941–1954 exhibition is perfect for reigniting your imagination—even during the toughest creative block. It also serves as a reminder that, as designers, we aren’t confined to one discipline, and that reinvention is possible at any age.
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Why Hilma af Klint’s Vision Still Feels Radically Modern
Hilma af Klint, Paintings for the Temple (1906-1915)
May 6 – August 30, 2026
Grand Palais
A pioneer of abstract art, Hilma af Klint was a Swedish artist and mystic whose compositions predate Kandinsky, Malevich and Mondrian. The Grand Palais exhibition presents her radical work for the first time in France—a collection that blends colour, form, symbolism, mysticism, and esotericism.
Hilma af Klint led what could be described as a double artistic life: on one hand, a figurative practice that aligned with her era’s expectations; on the other, a secret, radically avant-garde body of work nourished by theosophy and spiritualism, exploring cosmic harmony and invisible forces. Her work incorporates vivid hues, geometric shapes, organic motifs, spirals, circles, astrology and extensive spiritual research. In collaboration with the Centre Pompidou, the Grand Palais now presents her major works from Paintings for the Temple (1906–1915), including the monumental series The Ten Largest. The exhibition also highlights the inspirations behind these major compositions, from scientific culture to folk art.
My highlight was, by far, The Ten Largest. During a spiritualist séance, af Klint was called upon to fulfil a “sacred mission”: to create ten paradisiacal paintings illustrating the four stages of human life—childhood, youth, adulthood and old age—from a supernatural perspective. Created in 1907, they feel astonishingly modern and psychedelic. They offer a rich source of inspiration for any designer looking to break away from today’s minimalist trends.
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What Makes Nan Goldin’s Photography So Powerful?
Nan Goldin, This Will Not End Well
March 18 – June 21, 2026
Grand Palais
Shifting from painting to photography and filmmaking, visitors can catch the final days of This Will Not End Well, a retrospective dedicated to Nan Goldin’s videos and slideshows, which the artist describes as “films made up of stills”. This exhibition is far more personal, exploring Goldin’s friendships, loves and struggles.
Her photographs offer a glimpse into everyday life, reminding us that artists are human, too. The narratives she explores are drawn directly from her own experiences and touch on themes of childhood, gender, loss and vulnerability. It is a raw, visceral experience that is difficult to find elsewhere.
This retrospective brings together six major works spanning fifty years: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (1981–2022), The Other Side (1992–2021), Sisters, Saints, Sibyls (2004–2022), Memory Lost (2019–2021), Sirens (2019–2020), and Stendhal Syndrome (2024)—the latter inspired by six myths from Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
Nan Goldin reveals the intimate details of life up close, from moments of joy to tragedy. Her work is a reminder that even the most ordinary aspects of everyday life can inspire extraordinary art.
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