What’s on in Paris this Winter

In the last two years the museums of Paris, just like everything and everyone else, had to deal with all sorts of changes. Now, the museums of Paris are slowly getting back on track and this winter some great new shows are opened and ready for visitors.

One of the most anticipated exhibits and one I couldn’t wait to see so was there on the first day was the Musée Marmottan Monet exhibit Julie Manet, an Impressionist Heritage.  Julie Manet was the daughter of artists Berthe Morisot and Eugene Manet, brother of Edouard Manet.  She was her mother’s favorite subject and we can see her grow up in the paintings that hang in the Musée d’Orsay and around the world. Eugène Manet died in 1892 and a few years later she lost her mother. Julie was just 16 and her “uncles” stepped in to help watch over her. These included Monet, Renoir, Degas, Sisley, and Stéphane Mallarmé that she wrote about in her diary that was later published.

The exhibit is amazing and includes portraits of Julie by her mother, Renoir, and Manet but also a few paintings Julie did as well. After all with those artistic genes, she was of course talented. Her mother had first met Edouard Manet in the Louvre as she was training as a copyist and many of the paintings that Manet and her father-in-law Henri Rouart had copied in the Grande Galerie are also on display which I was very excited about. When her father-in-law died, she inherited many of his pieces that now are found in the Louvre, Orsay and Marmottan Monet.

The Musée Marmottan Monet is on the edge of Paris and the Bois de Boulogne and houses the largest collection of Monet in the world including Impressio, Sunrise that gave the entire movement its name. It is pretty stunning to see it up close and in person.

Learn more about Berthe Morisot on our episode of La Vie Creative Podcast – Paris History Avec a Hemingway.

The Julie Manet exhibit runs through March 20.

Not far from the Marmottan-Monet is the Fondation Louis Vuitton. The building designed by Frank Gehry is a piece of art in itself and inside is a collection of contemporary art as well as special exhibits that change twice a year.

The current exhibit Morozov, Icons of Modern Art continues the Foundation’s focus on sharing the outstanding collections that are rarely seen outside of their home museums.  The Morozov brothers Mikhail and Ivan were part of the Morozov dynasty that had art collecting in their blood. The two brothers stepped up the collecting and quickly gathered some of the greatest French and Russian modern art.

Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Cézanne, van Gogh, Matisse, and many more, and the first time the entire collection has returned to French soil. It is a sight to behold. A few of the highlights include Picasso’s Les Deux Saltimbanques Toulouse-Lautrec’s Yvette Gilbert Sings, Linger, Longer, Loo, and the one painting that stands out over all of the Vincent van Gogh’s The Prison Courtyard painted during his time at the asylum of Saint Remy. Where van Gogh paints himself into the prison yard walking in a circle with fellow prisoners. What we know of his life and seeing this painting is sad and will take your breath away.

Covering three levels and masterfully done, allow yourself a few hours to take it all in and not feel rushed. After that, be sure to explore the upper terraces and the view over the Bois de Boulogne. The exhibit ends February 22, 2022 and if you can’t make it there is an amazing coffee table book you can order from Amazon that is beautifully done.

At the Musée de Luxembourg is holding a photo exhibit of Vivien Maier, the nanny who took thousands of photos and left the negatives and undeveloped film in boxes in a storage unit. In 2007 they were discovered and auctioned off. The photos in black and white are amazing and a slice of time that is long gone. Her story is fascinating and a bit heartbreaking and was also featured in a 2013 documentary that brought her story to the masses. After walking through the gift shop where they are selling cans of Campbell’s tomato soup for almost 8€ and other American canned food for some odd reason. Also, find me on a corner in Paris with a case of soup funding my champagne budget soon.

Heading to Paris soon? Want to see all the best museums and exhibits or maybe shopping along the Rue Saint Honoré or diving into the history of Paris. Let Girls Guide to Paris help you plan the perfect trip. Join Claudine and Krystal next for the Artists and Authors of the Past and Present in Paris tour. 7 days in Paris visiting the ateliers, streets, and museums of those that paved the way for the artists of today.

About the Author:

Claudine Hemingway is an art and Paris historian that loves all things French and spends countless hours in the Musée du Louvre and walking the cobblestones of Paris.