• Unavoidable
• Contemporary

Henri Matisse - Alex Katz Exhibition, The Silence of Painting, at the Matisse Museum in Nice

MATISSE MUSEUM
From October 28, 2026 to January 18, 2027

From October 28, 2026 to January 18, 2027, the Matisse Museum in Nice entrusts all its rooms to Alex Katz, born in Brooklyn in 1927. Conceived with the painter and curated by Aymeric Jeudy, the exhibition creates a dialogue between his works and the museum's collection.

• Contemporary
• Discovery

Sarah Jérôme Exhibition, The Invisible Wall, at the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud

Royal Abbey of Fontevraud
From October 9, 2026 to January 30, 2027

From October 9, 2026 to January 30, 2027, the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud exhibits at the Logis du Sonneur the paintings of Sarah Jérôme, 2026 winner of the Bullukian-Fontevraud residency, after a first stage at the Bullukian Foundation in Lyon.

• Drawing
• Classic

Exhibition "Drawing Egypt: Artists and Scholars in Bonaparte's Orient," at the Museum of Fine Arts in Orléans

ORLÉANS MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
From November 7, 2026 to March 14, 2027

From November 7, 2026 to March 14, 2027, the Orléans Museum of Fine Arts is partnering with the National Library of France for an exhibition of national importance dedicated to drawings from the Egyptian expedition. It will then be presented at the Toulon Museum of Art.

• Contemporary
• Unavoidable

Exhibition "A Brief History of the Same" at the Lambert Collection, Avignon

LAMBERT COLLECTION
From November 6, 2026 to February 28, 2027

The Lambert Collection opens "A Brief History of the Same" in Avignon, from November 6, 2026 to February 28, 2027. Portuguese curator Bruno Marchand, deputy director of the MAAT in Lisbon, signs the first of the museum's European curatorial residencies and unfolds in six chapters a journey devoted to repetition, variation and difference.

• Drawing
• Contemporary

Yann Kebbi exhibition at the Caen Museum of Fine Arts

MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS OF CAEN
From November 7, 2026 to March 7, 2027

The Caen Museum of Fine Arts concludes its residency cycle with Yann Kebbi, cartoonist for the New Yorker and first winner of the Cauvin-Monet prize: monotypes, unpublished pastels and monumental papers.

• Contemporary
• Unusual

Exhibition "Bursts of Laughter!" at the Tripostal in Lille

LE TRIPOSTAL, LILLE
From October 9, 2026 to January 3, 2027

For the first time, the Tripostal brings together the twenty-two Regional Contemporary Art Funds around the often-maligned art form: humor. From October 9, 2026, to January 3, 2027, "Éclats du rire!" (Bursts of Laughter!) features 153 works by 104 artists in Lille, transforming the building into a comedy club on Thursday evenings.

• Unavoidable
• Discovery

The "Eating Images" exhibition at the Mucem in Marseille

MUCEM, J4 LEVEL 2
From October 28, 2026 to April 12, 2027

The Mucem tells in four hundred and thirty-five pieces how, around the Mediterranean, images were eaten, from the host to the love cake, with Ingres, Meret Oppenheim and Michel Journiac.

• Photo
• Festival

Planches Contact Festival, Generations, at Les Franciscaines in Deauville

THE FRANCISCAN NUNS
From October 17, 2026 to January 3, 2027

Les Franciscaines hosts the 17th edition of the Planches Contact Festival, on the theme Generations, from October 17, 2026 to January 3, 2027. Sixteen photographers spent several months in residence in Normandy, and Bruce Gilden is installing his New York retrospective right on the beach in Deauville.

• Contemporary
• Discovery

The exhibition “Night Sister” by Éléonore False at the Tanneries d’Amilly: a plunge into a dreamlike universe.

LES TANNERIES - CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER
From October 17, 2026 to February 28, 2027

From October 17, 2026 to February 28, 2027, the contemporary art center Les Tanneries, in Amilly, presents Sœur de nuit, a solo exhibition by Éléonore False: a nocturnal journey of collages, textiles, glass and luminous sculptures, the second chapter of Sœur de jour presented at the CCC OD in Tours.

• Contemporary
• Unavoidable

Exhibition: Singular Women, self-taught, liberated artists, at the LaM in Villeneuve-d’Ascq

LAM
From October 3, 2026 to February 14, 2027

The LaM, in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, brings together from October 3, 2026 to February 14, 2027 seventy women and more than three hundred works of outsider art in Singulières, artistes, autodidactes, affranchies, de Baya à Séraphine Louis.

• Fashion

Chagall Couture exhibition at the Marc Chagall National Museum in Nice

MARC CHAGALL NATIONAL MUSEUM
From October 10, 2026 to January 18, 2027, then from February 6 to May 23, 2027

The Marc Chagall National Museum in Nice is exhibiting Chagall Couture from October 10, 2026 to May 23, 2027: seventy-six costumes and headdresses created by students from the Lycée des Coteaux de Cannes based on the painter's painted and engraved work.

• Digital
• Festival

Digital Imaginary Biennial Chronicles 2026, Resistances, in Marseille, Aix and Avignon

CHRONICLES, BIENNIAL OF DIGITAL IMAGINATIONS
From October 24, 2026 to January 17, 2027

From October 24, 2026 to January 17, 2027, the fifth Biennale of digital imaginaries, Chroniques, unfolds thirteen exhibitions in seven cities, from Marseille to Avignon, around one word: resistances.

• Contemporary

Exhibition by Anne and Patrick Poirier, "Memories of Ruins," at the Nice-Cimiez Archaeology Museum

NICE-CIMIEZ ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
From November 7, 2026 to September 5, 2027

From November 7, 2026 to September 5, 2027, the Nice-Cimiez Archaeology Museum is installing for the first time the invented ruins of Anne and Patrick Poirier in the middle of the Roman baths: Memories of the Ruins, with the MAMAC.

• Contemporary

Amélie Bertrand exhibition, Neon Club, at the Valence Museum

MUSEUM OF VALENCE, ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY
From October 10, 2026 to March 21, 2027

The Valence Museum of Art and Archaeology presents Amélie Bertrand, Neon Club, from October 10, 2026 to March 21, 2027: around thirty paintings, almost all of them new, designed for the space with painted curtains and illuminated display cases.

• Contemporary
• Unavoidable

Max Ernst exhibition, De natura, at the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire

CHAUMONT-SUR-LOIRE ESTATE
From October 3, 2026 to February 28, 2027

The Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire is dedicating a retrospective to Max Ernst, De natura, from October 3, 2026 to February 28, 2027: some thirty works including two paintings never before seen outside private collections, a few kilometers from the house where the painter lived for thirteen years.

• Unusual
• With family

The Pink Diamond exhibition at the Château de Chantilly

CHÂTEAU DE CHANTILLY
From October 17, 2026 to January 3, 2027

Stolen a hundred years ago from the Château de Chantilly and then found hidden in an apple, the Grand Condé, a pink diamond of more than 9 carats, comes out of its vault from October 17, 2026 to January 3, 2027 for an exhibition devoted to its incredible story.

• Contemporary

Louisa Gagliardi exhibition, In Plain Sight, at the Mougins Art Centre

MOUGINS
From November 6, 2026 to April 4, 2027

The FAMM presents its second winter exhibition at the Mougins Art Centre: the first monograph in France of the Swiss artist Louisa Gagliardi, curated by Simon de Pury.

• Case
• Sculpture

Calder, the centenary: 11 locations in Touraine and Centre-Val de Loire

CENTRE-VAL DE LOIRE
Calder in the heart of France

One hundred years after Alexander Calder's arrival in Paris, the Centre-Val de Loire region celebrates the inventor of the mobile with "Calder at the heart of France", as part of the AR(t]CHIPEL festival: eleven venues, from Chambord to the Château du Rivau, host giant stabiles, mobiles, gouaches and films, from autumn 2026 to spring 2027.

• Photo
• Free

Neo-Analog exhibition at Stimultania in Strasbourg

STIMULTANIA
From October 9, 2026 to January 9, 2027

Stimultania, in Strasbourg, presents Neo-Analog from October 9, 2026 to January 9, 2027. Thirteen artists work with the material of the image, emulsion spread by hand on textile, printing on marble or scratched surface.

• Photo
• Free

"A Feast for the Eyes!" Exhibition at the Rouen Normandy Photographic Centre

ROUEN NORMANDY PHOTOGRAPHIC CENTER
From October 10, 2026 to January 30, 2027

The Rouen Normandy Photographic Centre presents Plein les yeux ! An animal history of the photographic book for children, until January 30, 2027. Fifteen authors, from Rodchenko to Doisneau, defend a genre long considered minor.

• Photo
• Free

Exhibition: Marseille as seen by the Detaille family at the Marseille History Museum

MARSEILLE HISTORY MUSEUM
Until June 20, 2027

The Marseille History Museum presents "Marseille as seen by the Detaille family: 164 years of photographs," on display until June 20, 2027, with free admission. The collection from the studio taken over in 1902 by Fernand Detaille, dating back to 1860, was acquired by the city in 2021.

• Photo

Exhibition "I dreamed of another world" at the Frac Grand Large in Dunkirk

FRAC GRAND LARGE - HAUTS-DE-FRANCE
From October 10, 2026 to January 3, 2027

The Frac Grand Large - Hauts-de-France, in Dunkirk, presents I dreamed of another world from October 10, 2026 to January 3, 2027. More than a hundred works from its collection, from Lee Friedlander to Daniel Buren, treat light as a material.

• Classic
• Unavoidable

Séraphine Louis. From Senlis, Without Rival

Centre Pompidou-Metz
From October 31, 2026 to April 12, 2027

From October 31, 2026 to April 12, 2027, the Centre Pompidou-Metz brings together more than eighty works by Séraphine Louis, including six giant canvases from 1928-1930. An exhibition that takes the painter out of naive art and puts her back in the middle of modernity.

• Classic

The strange case of Monsieur Gallé, the exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Nancy

Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy
From October 21, 2026 to February 28, 2027

From October 21, 2026 to February 28, 2027, the Museum of Fine Arts in Nancy opens the workshops of Émile Gallé: one hundred and forty pieces, from 1880 to the 1920s, in an exhibition recognized as being of national interest by the State.

• Contemporary

Sheila Hicks exhibition, Beyond, at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille

LILLE PALACE OF FINE ARTS
From October 9, 2026 to March 8, 2027

Sheila Hicks, a pioneer of textile art, is given carte blanche at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille and becomes the first female artist to occupy its atrium.

• Literary
• Discovery

Chateaubriand and Juliette Récamier Exhibition at the Maison de Chateaubriand, Vallée-aux-Loups

CHATEAUBRIAND HOUSE
From October 2, 2026 to September 26, 2027

The first exhibition dedicated to the story of Chateaubriand and Juliette Récamier, in the house where he began his Memoirs.

Art and anarchy at the Roubaix swimming pool

LA PISCINE - ANDRÉ DILIGENT MUSEUM OF ART AND INDUSTRY
From October 10, 2026 to January 24, 2027

Neither God nor master. From Gustave Courbet to Banksy, La Piscine retraces a century and a half of art spent under the libertarian banner.

• Discovery
• Free

Exhibition From the Great Mughal to the Sun King: Tavernier's diamonds in Lyon

THE SCHOOL OF JEWELRY ARTS
November 21-28, 2026

The School of Jewelry Arts, supported by Van Cleef & Arpels, will be setting up at the InterContinental Lyon – Hôtel-Dieu from November 21 to 28, 2026 to revive twenty diamonds brought back from India by Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and sold to Louis XIV in 1668.

• Contemporary
• Living room

ST-ART Strasbourg Fair, 30th edition, at the Strasbourg Exhibition Park

ST-ART - STRASBOURG EXHIBITION CENTER
November 13-15, 2026

From November 13 to 15, 2026, ST-ART celebrates its thirtieth anniversary at the Strasbourg Exhibition Park, with a week of events in the city starting on the 10th. Around sixty participants, glass and engraving in the spotlight, and a space for works under a thousand euros.

• Unavoidable
• Contemporary

Lee Ufan takes over the Palais des Papes in Avignon

PALACE OF THE POPES
Until November 15, 2026

Matter. Space. Time. The Palais des Papes opens its doors to Lee Ufan, a major figure in contemporary Korean art, for a major exhibition. The exhibition, entitled "Relatum," transforms the iconic spaces of the Avignon monument into experimental sites for architectural sculptures.

• Unavoidable
• Discovery

At Notre-Dame de la Garde, the earthenware regains its fervor.

At the Notre-Dame de la Garde Museum in Marseille, an exhibition has opened that we may have been waiting for, without realizing it, for three centuries. With "Earthenware & Devotion: Marseille–Moustiers in the 17th and 18th Centuries," nearly 150 works, many of them previously unseen, tell the story of the close ties forged in Provence between artistic creation and the expression of faith.

• Discovery
• With family

A getaway to Cognac and its surroundings

GRAND COGNAC
Season 2026

Four stops, one royal detour. Grand Cognac opens the 2026 season with resurrected heritage, the art of distillation and a world-class paleontological site.

110 years since the Battle of the Somme

HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR
FROM JUNE 28 TO DECEMBER 6, 2026

The 110th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme at the Historial de la Grande Guerre.

• Discovery

Discovery: The Château de la Ballue and its Alice gardens…

Ballue Castle

Alice's garden in Wonderland exists! Nestled in the Breton countryside, the Château de la Ballue is a hidden marvel of our heritage.