Our top picks: the best free exhibitions in Paris
Our top picks among free exhibitions in Paris, with no time limit: a permanent selection ranked by editorial strength, which we update as new exhibitions open. For the most recent openings, see our weekly selection of free exhibitions.
THE OGRESSES' BALL
AT THE INSTITUTE OF ISLAM CULTURES
Thirteen female artists take on Aïcha Kandisha, the Moroccan ogress who protects as much as she frightens. From Nil Yalter to Kubra Khademi, the figure changes sides: what was used to frighten girls becomes a power to be claimed. Paintings, videos, and installations compose a topsy-turvy tale, sustained from beginning to end. Discover our photos
INSTITUTE OF ISLAM CULTURES - HERE LÉON
From September 26, 2026 to February 7, 2027
METAMORPHOSES, THE HATS OF MAISON MICHEL
AT THE GALERIE DU 19M
Four rooms to follow a hat from raw straw to the head that wears it. Felt, wooden shapes, and the Weismann machine restored in 1975: Maison Michel reveals its craftsmanship rather than its shop windows. We watch hands working a resistant material, and the fashion item becomes a manufactured object once again. Discover our photos
THE GALLERY OF 19M
From September 23 to December 13, 2026
LEE KRASNER AT GAGOSIAN She spent her life being presented as Pollock's wife, and it took until 2026 for her first solo exhibition in France. Gagosian is showing paintings and works on paper from the 1960s, a decade in which Lee Krasner established a broad, distinctive style. Free admission on rue de Ponthieu.
YU NISHIMURA AT LAFAYETTE ANTICIPATIONS
Around fifty canvases from the last ten years, including several previously unseen works, where oil and tempera borrow from cinema and photography their way of blurring outlines and faces. Lafayette Anticipations offers the Japanese painter his first institutional monograph in France, and admission remains free.
LAFAYETTE ANTICIPATIONS
From October 21, 2026 to January 3, 2027
RAYANE MCIRDI
HAPPY RETIREMENT DAD
Forty years in the factory, and one last day. Rayane Mcirdi filmed his father's retirement, then deconstructed the film for the Plateau, in chapters spread throughout the space. Instead of sitting, the audience moves around, and the scenes echo each other from one room to the next. A journey between Algeria and France, without a single line of commentary.
FRAC ÎLE-DE-FRANCE, LE PLATEAU
From September 24, 2026 to February 21, 2027
ELMGREEN & DRAGSET AT THE MAX HETZLER GALLERY
The Scandinavian duo has taken over both of the gallery's locations, which face each other across Rue du Temple. Elmgreen & Dragset have installed their deceptive sets: empty swimming pools and frozen passageways, where the viewer finds themselves searching for the exit. Free admission from both sides of the street.
MAX HETZLER GALLERY
From October 19 to December 16, 2026
MARCEL DUCHAMP PRIZE
THE FOUR NOMINEES
Four artists, four rooms, a prize that unfolds before the public: the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris entrusts each of the nominees with an entire space. Installations, videos, sculptures—the style changes from one room to the next, and the experience is as much a test as an exhibition. The permanent collections are included, and admission remains free.
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART IN PARIS
From October 2, 2026 to February 7, 2027
SUN AND MOON AT THE SWEDISH INSTITUTE Two Swedes who never met are nonetheless in dialogue: Ivan Ageli, mystic and great traveler of the early twentieth century, and Andreas Eriksson, painter of slow-moving plants and lichens. The Swedish Institute hangs them facing each other in its private mansion in the Marais district, and admission is free, right in the heart of the Marais.
SWEDISH INSTITUTE
From October 20, 2026 to January 10, 2027
200LUX
AT THE MAISON DES ARTS IN CRÉTEIL
Usually, photography festivals compete for the same artists and the same grants. Thirty-three of them, from La Gacilly to Arles, have chosen the opposite approach and are exhibiting together, each with an artist from its program. The constellation is complete; no one is missing. A map of French photography as it is being created.
MAC - MAISON DES ARTS DE CRÉTEIL
From September 19 to December 19, 2026
TRAUMACHROMES, ISABELLE LE MINH
AT THE CENTRE PHOTOGRAPHIQUE D’ÎLE-DE-FRANCE
Rochester was the birthplace of the Kodak factories, now closed. Isabelle Le Minh went there to photograph the city on Kodak film, then printed her images on silk, preserving the saturations and halftone patterns that appeared accidentally during digitization. The ruin of an industrial empire and its cause lie in the same operation.
ÎLE-DE-FRANCE PHOTOGRAPHIC CENTER
From October 4 to December 20, 2026
BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL, KWAME BRATHWAITE
AT THE ROBERT DOISNEAU HOUSE OF PHOTOGRAPHY
January 1962, a Harlem club. Young Black women, rejected by every modeling agency in New York for having skin too dark and unstraightened hair, parade by. They wear African hairstyles and hand-sewn clothing. The room is overflowing, an additional session is needed, and Kwame Brathwaite is there to record everything.
ROBERT DOISNEAU HOUSE OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Until March 14, 2027
TACITA DEAN AND BRUCE NAUMAN AT MARIAN GOODMAN'S HOUSE
Bruce Nauman returns to drawing after almost twenty years of hiatus, and Tacita Dean films the resumption. Their sessions in New Mexico resulted in Drawing Blind Drawing, a diptych film projected over seven meters wide. Watching someone draw becomes a complete spectacle, and it costs nothing.
MARIAN GOODMAN GALLERY
From October 19 to December 19, 2026
