From the grand Sargent retrospective to other types of exhibitions of international artists, without forgetting major French painters, this cultural season has assets up its sleeve to provide you with unforgettable moments.
John Singer Sargent: a prestigious alumni to discover
“Dazzling Paris.” This is the sub-title of this complete exhibition the Orsay museum dedicates this autumn to John Singer Sargent, an American painter born in Italy and dead in London, revered in the United Sates and famous in the United Kingdom, but still rather unknown in France… And yet it was in France that the young painter received his training, making him a prestigious France alumni.
As the museum points out, this retrospective “explores the most decisive period of the American painter’s career”. With more than 90 works, the exhibition presents the artist’s ascension in the capital. He arrived in Paris in 1874, at 18 years old, to study with Carolus-Duran, one of the most famous French portraitist of the early 20th century, and entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. After passing the entry exam, he chose to join Carolus-Duran’s class. He spent four years in the Paris school, developing his technique in anatomy and perspective. After a first exhibition in Paris in 1877, Sargent made friends with impressionists, such as Edgar Degas and Claude Monet.
His stay in France continued until the mid-1880’s. At 30 years old, John Singer Sargent moved to London after the scandal of his masterpiece, Madame X, the portrait of a banker’s spouse deemed too undressed for the times… but according to the Orsay museum, it was during this decade that he achieved “his most beautiful masterpieces, standing out with their inventiveness and audacity“.
The exhibition is organised at the Orsay Museum from 23 septembre 2025 to 11 January 2026 (free entry for people under 26 years residing in the European Union).
All-you-can-take cinema and art
In addition to John Singer Sargent, more international artists are under the spotlights this year:
- the Orson Welles exhibition at the Cinémathèque, from 8 October 2025 to 11 January 2026 (reduced prices for students). Under the title “My name is Orson Welles” , this exhibition stages the life and work of a major American moviemaker. According to the Cinémathèque, “an exhibition about Orson Welles is about deploying the maze of a life under the sign of exception from an early age”. An exception made with a retrospective of his movies (including the exceptional Citizen Kane, but also more less-known work) and documents that help better understand this “one-man band” moviemaker.
- the Gerard Richter exhibition, a modern German painter, at the, at the Vuitton Foundation from 17 October 2025 to 2nd March 2026 (reduced price for students). In the wake of monographic exhibitions dedicated to major art figures of the 20th and 21st centuries (such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Mark Rothko and David Hockney), the Foundation “dedicates all its spaces to Gerhard Richter, considered as one of the most important artists of his generation who enjoyed international recognition”. A retrospective “that has never been seen before because of its temporality and size, exhibiting 270 pieces from 1962 to 2024”, says the Fondation.
- the Exposition générale of the Fondation Cartier from 25 October 2025 to 23 August 2026 (reduced prices for students). To celebrate its new location on Palais Royal place, a stone’s throw away from the Louvre Museum, the Fondation Cartier chose not to take it small by exhibiting no less than all of its collections! “Exposition Générale” indeed presents forty years of modern art at the Fondation Cartier “starting from a collection made throughout its creation”. By “reactivating the architectural heritage of the new location of the Fondation Cartier and its openness to the city, it draws an alternative encyclopaedia of modern art”. More than 600 artists, and most often international, are exhibited.
Two monuments of classical French painting
And what about the French painters? They haven’t been forgotten, with two major exhibitions dedicated this year to two giants of pictural art. Those classics are made to be discovered or rediscovered:
- the Jacques-Louis David exhibition at the Louvre Museum from 15 October 2025 to 26 January 2026 (free entry for people under 26 years residing in the European Union). As the Louvre, biggest museum in the world, explains, this unique retrospective of Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), organised for the bicentenary of the painter’s death, offers an exhibition dedicated to all of his career. “Only the Louvre museum is able to take up such challenge, as it holds the world’s largest collection of paintings and drawings by this major French artist. The 2025 exhibition, which brings together one hundred works, offers a comprehensive synthesis to understand “the rich artistic, political, and social journey of David”. According to the museum, Jacques-Louis David, a towering figure of painting, “has certainly left his mark on our collective visual memory, for even today it is through the indelible (and distorting) lens of his canvases that we picture the defining moments of the French Revolution”.
- the Georges de La Tour exhibition at the Jacquemart-André museum from 11 September 2025 to 25 January 2026 (reduced prices for students). Entitled “Between Shadow and Light,” this retrospective highlights the works of Georges de La Tour (1593–1652), “renowned for his intimate scenes and striking chiaroscuro”. More than 30 masterpieces are gathered here, out of about forty known works by the artist. As one of the first French retrospectives devoted to La Tour, this exhibition represents “a unique opportunity to experience the pieces of an artist whose limited output is rarely shown”.