Top 10 Exhibitions for 2012
Our selection of the best art exhibitions to see this year...
Helmut Newton pour 'Vogue', 1967 © Helmut Newton Estate
Journey into the world of Tim Burton at the Cinémathèque, check out Helmut Newton's vamps at the Grand Palais, and discover Artemisia, a lesser-known baroque painting genius, at Musée Maillol: 2012 promises to be one hell of an art-rich year - and this list is just the tip of the iceberg!
Henri Matisse, 'Blouse roumaine', 1953 © Succession Henri Matisse, 2011
Matisse, paires et séries
After a successful Edvard Munch retrospective, the Pompidou Centre turns to Henri Matisse for an introspective exhibition on Fauvism (Matisse, paires et séries), and more specifically Matisse’s role as the ‘first’ Fauvist painter. Throughout his career (1899 to 1952) Matisse’s art was anchored in...
- Wed Mar 7 - Mon Jun 18
- The Centre Pompidou
Edgar Degas, 'Après le bain, femme nue s'essuyant la nuque', 1898 © RMN (Musée d'Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski
Degas et le nu
As a voyeur and (some would say a misogynist) Edgar Degas (1834-1917) had a strange relationship with women in tutus and corsets: When English painter Walter Sickert recounted Degas’ painting methods, which reportedly included spying on girls through keyholes and half-closed doors, the British...
- Tue Mar 13 - Sun Jul 1
- Musée d'Orsay
Artemisia Gentileschi, 'Giuditta decapita Oloferne', 1612 environ © Naples, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte
Artemisia
While Judith was decapitating Holofernes, Danaë was having fun in the sack: The paintings of Artemisia Gentileschi (on show at the Musée Maillol between March 14th and July 15th) are so expressive you can practically smell the blood and sweat. They also portray women as assertive beings, capable of...
- Wed Mar 14 - Sun Jul 15
- Musée Maillol
Jacopo Bassano, 'Deux chiens de chasse attachés à une souche', 1548 © Service presse Réunion des musées nationaux - Grand Palais / Stéphane Maréchalle
Animal Beauty: from Dürer to Jeff Koons
Animals in all their shapes, sizes and forms have been a constant source of inspiration for artists throughout the centuries. Portrayed as both noble creatures and uncultured monsters, they have allowed us to define our own humanity: Thus is the basis for the ‘Animal Beauty: from Dürer to Jeff...
- Wed Mar 21 - Mon Jul 16
- Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais
Helmut Newton pour 'Vogue', 1967 © Helmut Newton Estate
Helmut Newton
A visual feast awaits in the Grand Palais’ south-east gallery, where the first retrospective dedicated to one of the 20th-century’s most successful fashion photographers, Helmut Newton (1920-2004), will be held between March 24th and June 17th. Plunging necklines and curvaceous femmes-fatales...
- Sat Mar 24 - Sun Jun 17
- Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais
Exposition 'Tim Burton' à la Cinémathèque française DR
Tim Burton
Who hasn’t gazed into Large Marge’s smug face or worried that Edward Scissorhands might just have someone’s eye out? Tim Burton is without doubt one of the most omnipresent and well-loved film directors of the last thirty years. So to pay homage to his work in 2012, the Cinémathèque has nabbed...
- Wed Mar 7 - Sun Aug 5
- La Cinémathèque Française
Place Saint-MÈdard, marchand ambulant, 1899. Photographie d'EugËne Atget (1857-1927). Paris, musÈe Carnavalet. © MusÈe Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet
Eugène Atget
- Rated as: 4/5
- Critics choice
If you’re someone for whom an afternoon spent with Robert Doisneau’s slick shots of Paris is about as appealing as being drowned in a vat of honey, you’ll be thrilled to spend time in a dishevelled version of the city, as captured by Eugene Atget. The famous photographer – originally from the rural...
- Until Sun Jul 29
- Musée Carnavalet
© Chris Killip
Chris Killip, 'Great-Britain 1970-1990'
Founded on the site of a former dance hall, Le BAL is busily cementing its role as an important venue for visual documentary. Its latest venture is to invite Chris Killip to exhibit his photographs of Northern England, shot between 1970 and 1990. A stunning portfolio of « What happened » under the...
- Until 19 August
- Le BAL
Daniel Kramer, 'Bob Dylan With Top Hat Pointing in Car', 1964 © Daniel Kramer
Bob Dylan, l'explosion rock
In the early sixties, Bob Dylan’s guitar-led protest tunes tapped into the psyche of an America troubled by social and political unrest – so much so that Columbia Records snapped up the singer-songwriter almost as soon as he moved from the Midwest to New York in 1961. From this contract came...
- Until July 15
- Cité de la Musique
© Photo : Farida Bréchemier – Monumenta 2012, ministère de la Culture et de la Communication
MONUMENTA : Daniel Buren
This won’t be French artist Daniel Buren’s first encounter with the vast spaces of the Grand Palais, and those who remember his installation there as part of a group show in 2009 will be thrilled to see him return. Back then, he dressed the vestibule in shimmering colours, allowing the sun to...
- Until June 21
- Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais