It may have taken five long years, but the revamped Grand Palais, now completely reopened, is nothing if not grand, even grandiose. The always spectacular glass-domed ceiling is as beautiful and awe-inspiring as always, and new areas have recently been opened to the public.
The spaces under the dome are splendidly filled with three impressive shows. Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto’s immense installation “Nosso Barco Tambor Terra” (“Our Boat Drum Earth,” through July 15) is made of crocheted fabric and filled with percussion instruments from various cultures. Visitors are encouraged to take off their shoes before wandering through the soft structure and playing the instruments to their heart’s content.
On the mezzanine above, the show “Horizontes” (through July 15) presents colorful large-format works by four talented Brazilian artists – Agrade Camíz, Vinicius Gerheim, Antonio Obá and Marina Perez Simão.
On the other side of the vast structure is an exhibition both adults and children will love: “Euphoria: Art is in the Air” (through September 7), produced by the Balloon Museum, with one spectacular installation after another of inflatable creations visitors can play with, bat around, hug or even “swim” through in the the truly immersive experience provided by “Hyperstellar,” a work by the Quiet Ensemble and Roman Hill, which allows them to climb into a large pool filled with black balls and watch high-resolution images of exploding water droplets and air bubbles projected on a circular 360-degree screen with a soundtrack of appropriate watery effects.
The other part of the Grand Palais (entrance on Square Jean Perrin), where major art exhibitions used to be held in enclosed, nondescript spaces, has been beautifully revamped and given windows onto the domed structure, which can be seen through glass walls here and there. Chic, comfortable seating areas have been added, along with a wonderful new design shop that rivals that of the Centre Pompidou, a bookstore and an area for children. The new Grand Palais also has a new restaurant (the Mini Palais is gone) called Grand Café, and a café, Réséda Café under the aegis of superstar chef Thierry Marx.
The first batch of exhibitions in this part of the building is worthy of the new setting. “Art Brut” (through September 21), coproduced by the Centre Pompidou (which will close in September for its own five-year renovation), is a wonderful presentation of the Decharme collection and one of the best shows of outsider art I have ever seen. Halfway through, visitors are invited to sit down, don headphones and enjoy “Insider-Outsider,” a magnificent interactive virtual reality interpretation of the amazing work of Henry Darger, the king of outsider art, who created a sort of monumental comic strip in which young girls in pretty frocks (sometimes naked and equipped with penises, but not in this production) formed an army and fought off the evil enemy’s army. Anyone who appreciates outsider art will love both the show and the VR presentation, produced by the GrandPalaisRmn, the Centre Pompidou, Lucid Realities and Science & Mélodie, with music composed by Philippe Cohen Solal and Mike Lindsay.
[A note for fans of outsider art and anyone with compassion for the marginal people of our world: the magazine Art Absolument has staged a moving exhibition, “Vulnérables” (through September 21, 2025) in the Grande Chapelle Saint-Louis at the Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière. The hospital served as a prison for such people, who were also subjected to torturous experiments – see Paris Update’s article on “Réespiration,” by Samuel Bianchini, which is featured in this must-see show.]
“Tapisseries Royales” (through August 17), another exhibition in the new Grand Palais, contrasts sumptuous tapestries produced for French royalty in past centuries with brilliantly colored contemporary tapestries, designed by Danish artists Kirstine Roepstorff, Bjørn Nørgaard, Tal R and Alexander Tovborg, and woven in the same French manufactures as the 17th-century works, Gobelins, Beauvais and Aubusson.
“Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Pontus Hulten” (through January 4, 2026) brings together three friends responsible for some of the 20th century’s most playful and lovable art. Saint Phalle, best known for her enormous “Nanas,” colorful sculpted figures, was a feminist who celebrated women in cheerful, exuberant ways in most of her works. Tinguely, who was Saint Phalle’s husband for a time and always her friend, created Rube Goldberg-like machines. The works of these two are famously brought together in the Stravinsky Fountain next to the Centre Pompidou. Also included in this show are some works by Pontus Hulten, a curator and good friend of both artists who became the first director of the Centre Pompidou and helped promote their work.
An exhibition especially for children, “Transparence” (through August 29, 2027), is being shown in the new Palais des Enfants, an arts and science space for kids aged two to 10. The immersive show includes a light-filled hall of mirrors, a mysterious forest, a cave of mineral treasures, a sunny sky and a look at what’s happening beneath the ocean, along the way teaching children about light, optical effect and perception.
We missed the Grand Palais during those five years, but it was worth the wait.
See our list of Current & Upcoming Exhibitions to find out what else is happening in the Paris art world.
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