Paris Museum Exhibitions for 2025 – A Year Of Art, History & Culture

Paris has always been a cultural beacon, and its museums are no exception. The 2025 exhibition calendar promises an impressive array of offerings, from world-renowned institutions like the Louvre and Musée d'Orsay to the more intimate settings of the Petit Palais and Musée Marmottan-Monet. Each museum presents an opportunity to dive deeper into the artistic and historical fabric of the city. Whether you're drawn to the timeless works of the Impressionists or modern, avant-garde art, Paris museums have something new to reveal this year. The freshly restored Musée Jacquemart-André adds yet another dimension to an already vibrant scene.

Museum Exhibitions at the Louvre 2025

The Louvre & the Pyramid, photo by Mark Craft

When the most popular museum in the world announces its new exhibitions, the art world takes notice. Home to one of the most comprehensive collections on the planet, this historic institution offers more than just its masterpieces like the Venus de Milo and da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Each year, the Louvre brings fresh insight into its expansive collection through carefully chosen exhibitions that showcase art across cultures and time periods. 2025 will be no different. Prepare to discover works that challenge, inspire, and deepen our understanding of art in its many forms.

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
• Ends February 3, 2025
• Information

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
• Ends February 3, 2025
• Information

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
• Ends February 17, 2025

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
• Ends September 29, 2025
• Information

Cimabue: The Origins Of Modern Painting

The discovery of Giovanni Cimabue's Christ Mocked in an unexpected place shocked the art world. The painting, thought to be lost for centuries, was found in a woman's kitchen in Compiegne, France. How did a masterpiece end up in such humble surroundings? Now restored, it hangs in the Louvre after a four-year restoration.

• Louvre Museum
• January 22 to May 12, 2025

Museum Exhibitions at Musée d'Orsay 2025

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

A former Belle époque train station, the Musée d'Orsay today stands as the world's preeminent museum of Impressionism and 19th-century art. Its transformation in the mid-1980s gave a fitting home to the masters of light and color, from Monet and Degas to Renoir and Van Gogh. A recent refresh of the museum's layout and color palette allows these iconic works to shine even brighter, offering a vivid journey through a pivotal era in art history. In 2025, step inside and explore a curated path through the beauty, innovation, and timelessness of these masterpieces.

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
• Ends 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
• Ends to January 19, 2025
• Information…

Museum Exhibitions at Centre Pompidou

Centre Pompidou with it's infamous inside-out design

Since its bold opening in 1977, Centre Pompidou has been a hub for modern and contemporary art. This year promises yet another dynamic series of exhibitions that continue to push the boundaries of artistic expression. The museum will once again close for a significant renovation starting in summer 2025, so act now to experience its vibrant permanent collection and temporary exhibitions.

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, 2025
• Information…

Exhibitions at Musée du Quai Branly 2025

Color blocking at Musée du Quai Branly

Musée du Quai Branly, opened in 2006, offers a fascinating glimpse into the diverse cultures of the world, focusing on Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. Unlike the more classical institutions in Paris, this museum takes a broader approach, examining the shared human experience through art, artifacts, and cultural expression from across the globe. Located just a short walk from the Eiffel Tower, it feels both modern and grounded, a space where history and contemporary design intersect.

Architect Jean Nouvel, known for his daring structures, designed the museum with a vision that steps away from the traditional. Rather than grand staircases or manicured lawns, Quai Branly is surrounded by a lush, natural garden that feels untamed and alive. Small landscapes featuring native French plants create an organic setting, in harmony with the museum's mission of exploring the beauty and complexity of world cultures.

Zombies! Death Is Not The End

Forget what you think you know about zombies! This exhibition delves into the origins of zombies, a term that once referred to a spirit or apparition from Africa. As it made its way across the Atlantic, the concept evolved by combining African, Caribbean, and Catholic traditions.

• Musée du Quai Branly
• Ends February 16, 2025
• Information…

Wayang Kulit – Shadow Theater from Java & Bali

Between shadow and light, this exhibition deciphers wayang kulit, one of the oldest and most popular theatrical traditions in Indonesia.

• Musée du Quai Branly
• Ends March 23, 2025
• Information…

Taro Okamoto – Japan Reinvented

This exhibition highlights Taro Okamoto (1911-1996) a central figure of the Japanese avant-garde art movement. Famous for his bold paintings, sculptures and murals, he studied in Paris at the Sorbonne in the 1930s.

• Musée du Quai Branly
• April 15 to September 7, 2025
• Information…

Petit Palais Exhibitions 2025

The Petit Palais, photo by Mark Craft

For a museum experience on a more intimate scale, the Petit Palais offers a fascinating visit. Tucked in across from the grander Grand Palais, this gem on Avenue Winston Churchill houses the Fine Arts Museum of Paris. Built for the 1900 Universal Expo, the Petit Palais is a stunning blend of Beaux-Arts architecture and art collections that span centuries. Its charming courtyard and peaceful café invite visitors to linger, offering a moment of tranquility amidst the hustle of central Paris. Admission to the permanent collection is free, making it a must-stop during your explorations.

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, 2025
• 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, 2025
• Information…

Wild Sweden -

Discover the art of Bruno Liljefors (1860-1939) with one hundred of his paintings sourced from the National Museum of Stockholm and the Gothenburg. Liljefors often depicted Swedish wildlife from fox families, hares, ospreys, to eiders in natural settings.

• Petit Palais
• Ends February 16, 2025
• Information…

Musée Picasso 2025

Musée Picasso, photo from Musée Picasso by Fabien Campoverde

The Musée Picasso is a jewel of 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
• Ends March 12, 2027
• Information…

Musée de l'Orangerie 2025

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
• Ends 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
• Ends January 27, 202
• 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.

Trompe-l'Oeil From 1520 To The Present

This exhibition explores the evolution of trompe-l'oeil, which means "to deceive the eye" by creating the illusion of three-dimensionality in a painting. It pays homage to a lesser-explored aspect of the museum's collection, highlighting the fondness of Jules and Paul Marmottan for this genre of painting.

• Musée Marmottan-Monet
• Ends March 2, 2025
• Information…

Musée Carnavalet

Musée Carnavalet, photo Musée Carnavalet

Reopened after a meticulous five-year renovation, the Musée Carnavalet, dedicated to the history of Paris, is a treasure trove of stories and artifacts that trace the city's evolution. Chief architect François Châtillon led the revitalization, bringing modern accessibility to its grand halls while preserving the museum's historical charm. With newly installed lifts and ramps, reimagined displays, and digital touchpoints, the museum welcomes a new generation of visitors. Entrance to the permanent collection remains free, offering a rich glimpse into the past without breaking the bank.

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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. However, Musée de la Vie Romantique is closed for renovation until some time in 2026.

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…