The pediment of the Grand Palais, a Beaux-Arts wonder that has become one of Paris’s most iconic structures, makes its ambitions plain: “This Monument was dedicated by the Republic to the Glory of French Art.” In the more than 130 years since its completion, the Grand Palais has sometimes taken a liberal view of this founding mission by hosting equestrian shows, concerts and most recently, taekwondo and fencing in the 2024 Olympics. But the venue has largely lived up to its original billing.
A general view of The Grand Palais and Pont Alexandre III on April 10, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
The Grand Palais was constructed for the 1900 Paris Exposition. The overall design was inspired by the Crystal Palace (built for the 1851 London World’s Fair) but was ultimately a model of architectural eclecticism featuring Art Nouveau flourishes. The building utilized close to 9,000 tons of steel– greater than the amount used for the Eiffel Tower. Upon completion, it hosted the fine arts portion of the 1900 Paris World’s Fair.
1900 World Exhibition Paris, The Sculptures inside the Grand Palais, Private collection. (Photo by Photo12/UIG/Getty Images)
This lineage will continue in October. After two editions as Paris+ at the Grand Palais Éphémère, the re-christened Art Basel Paris will claim the freshly renovated Grand Palais as its new base. To celebrate the reopening, below are capsule histories of 7 notable art exhibitions that confirm its importance to the arc of Modern and contemporary art.
Salon d’Automne (October 18- November 25, 1905)
The Grand Palais was the epicenter of numerous academic and anti-academic art exhibitions of the early twentieth century. These included Salons organized by the Societé des Artistes Français (the historical heir of the 18th-century academic art exhibitions) as well as several alternative art exhibitions including the Salon des Indépendents (founded in 1884 by the painter Paul Signac) and the Salon d’Automne (founded in 1903 by the the art critic Frantz Jourdain, the architect Hector Guimard, and artists such as Felix Vallotton, Édouard Vuillard, and Eugène Carrière).
Matisse Painting in the Studio of Manguin’, 1904-1905. Musee National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France. Artist Albert Marquet. (Photo by Art Media/The Print Collector/Getty Images)
The Salon d’Automne launched the career of artists whose works defied academic conservatism. The infamous 1905 iteration featured paintings by Henri Matisse, André Derain, Albert Marquet, Maurice de Vlaminck, and Kees van Dongen. In response to the prismatic exuberance of their colorful canvases, the art critic Louis Vauxcelle denounced their work as “fauves” (wild beasts). The term was immediately embraced by the artists, and the exhibition became a fountainhead of the Fauvist movement– one of many iconic art historical moments that transpired in the Grand Palais.
Opening of the Picasso exhibition Hommage à Pablo Picasso. Grand and Petit Palais. Paris. 18th February 1966. (Photo by Imagno/Getty Images) .
Homage to Picasso (November 19, 1966 – February 13, 1967)
Held to coincide with Picasso’s 85th birthday, the exhibition inaugurated the newly minted National Galleries of the Grand Palais. It featured over 780 works by the father of Cubism, was held jointly at the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, and was the largest retrospective of a living artist to date. This display included over 100 ceramics by Picasso, many from his personal collection, and introduced these present-day art market favorites to the public.
Les parisiens font la queue pour visiter l’exposition ‘Hommage à Pablo Picasso’ au Grand Palais à Paris en France, le 12 février 1967. (Photo by KEYSTONE-FRANCE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
It was only appropriate that the first large-scale monographic show on Picasso was held at the Grand Palais. In his youth, Picasso had visited the 1900 World Fair. Additionally, the early art salons at the Grand Palais were instrumental in introducing Cubism to the mainstream public. Over 6,000 visitors per day came for the show. Paris Match poetically summarized the public’s glowing reception that “the crowds come to contemplate this unique spectacle: an entire life becomes form and colors.”
A photo shows an interior view of the Grand Palais during the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron, 100 days ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, on April 15, 2024. (Photo by Yoan VALAT / POOL / AFP) (Photo by YOAN VALAT/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Senegalese Art of Today (April 26- June 24, 1974)
The brainchild of the poet, cultural theorist, and first President of the newly independent Senegal, Léopold Senghor, this exhibition was the first dedicated to contemporary Senegalese art. It featured 30 different artists including Theodore Diouf, Iba N’Diaye, and Papa Ibra Tall. Since the 1930s, Senghor advocated for cultural diplomacy and saw artists as types of ambassadors. He allocated about a quarter of the state budget to cultural creation and established the Dynamic Museum (then the largest museum on the African continent).
The Grand Palais exhibition highlighted a new type of contemporary African art that moved away from European fetishization of traditional tribal art. Yet the exhibition was not without its scandals: the artist Issa Samb, who trained at the Institut national des arts du Sénégal, burnt his paintings selected for the show to renounce the institutionalization of creativity and politicization of art, a spirit that recalls the early alternative exhibitions of the Grand Palais. Still the exhibition was a great success and traveled to institutions in Europe and the Americas until 1982.
Poster illustration by Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) for ‘La plume’ review, 1896 (Dim 65×48 cm) – Private collection” (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)
Alphonse Mucha (February 5 – April 28, 1980)
This was one of the first shows to focus on Alphonse Mucha, a foundational figure in the development of Art Nouveau, an artistic style born out of Belgium. Born in the Czech Republic and trained in Vienna and Munich, Mucha moved to Paris in 1888. In the City of Lights, Mucha made illustrations for newspapers, collaborated with the actress Sarah Bernhardt, and designed various advertisements for cookies, perfumes, and liquors.
The Grand Palais display showcased the Czech designer’s fluency with sinuous arabesques and exuberant florals. In addition to his advertisements, the exhibition also featured many works centered around Mucha’s decorations for the Bosnia-Herzegovina Pavilion designed for the 1900 Paris Exposition. Mucha’s exhibition not only celebrated his central role in the iconic Belle Epoque visuals vocabulary, but also helped cast the art nouveau decorations of the Grand Palais in a new light.
Voitures ‘Renault Twingo’ accrochées à un mur lors d’une exposition sur le design au Grand Palais, à Paris, en 1993, France. (Photo by Pierre MICHAUD/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Industrial Design: Reflection of a Century (May 19 – July 25, 1993)
Organized chronologically, this landmark design exhibition mapped the evolution of domestic and industrial design from 1850 to 1993. The show included over 1,600 objects ranging from watches to automobiles to the latest in computing technology. It celebrated icons of modern design such as Michael Thonet’s No. 14 chair, Christopher Dresser’s electroplated tea set, Renato Piaggio’s design of the Vespa scooter, and Ettore Sottsass and the Memphis Group’s experimental furniture.
The First Aeronautic Exhibition, view of the exhibition hall at Grand Palais, 1908 (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
The exhibition reflected the legacy of the trade fairs the Grand Palais hosted in the 1920s-1950s, which included the Paris Motor Show (1901-1961), the Paris Air Show (1909-1951), the Household Appliances Show (1926-1960), and the Childhood Exhibition (1950-1960). Unfortunately, it was during this public celebration of design that the very design of the Grand Palais failed. A rivet, followed by a glass ceiling panel fell during the display. An extensive investigation revealed that the steel framework of the glass nave was rusted and the building underwent subsequent repairs until 2007.
Richard Serra Is Honoured With The Insignia Of Commander Of The Order Of Arts And Letters – Coinciding With The Opening Of His Exhibition Monumenta 2008 : Richard Serra At The Grand Palais In Paris . (Photo by Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images)
Richard Serra, Promenade (May 7 – June 15, 2008)
In 2007, the Grand Palais launched Monumenta, an annual art installation at the newly renovated 240 m long glass nave. The inaugural edition featured corrugated iron sculptures by Anselm Kiefer. The second edition continued its commitment to scale by turning to Richard Serra. Promenade featured Serra’s signature corten steel plates that were set vertically along the central axis of the Grand Palais. These towering sculptures activated the space, inviting the visitors to reflect on the act of promenading and by extension, rethink the city as a type of a post-minimalist sculptural landscape. The exhibition included performances that amplified the nave’s acoustic capabilities including a concert by Philip Glass, who once worked as Serra’s studio assistant.
Jardin des tuileries à Paris en 2008. Sculpture CLara-Clara de Richard Serra. (Photo by Bruno DE HOGUES/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
To coincide with Promenade, the city of Paris restored Clara-Clara, a pair of steel parabolas Serra had installed in the Tuileries Garden in 1983. It was immediately met with backlash and mirroring the infamous fate of the Tilted Arc, the Tuileries installation was removed only six months after its initial unveiling. Ultimately, the second installation of Clara-Clara could not outlast the Grand Palais exhibition for long. In 2009, it was dismantled once again and is now stored at the water plant in Ivry-sur Seine.
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun 1755–1842 (23 September 2015 – 11 January 2016)
Self Portrait in a Straw Hat, 1782. Found in the Collection of National Gallery, London. Artist Vigée Le Brun, Louise Élisabeth (1755-1842). (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
In addition to showcasing the evolution of modern art, the Grand Palais was an instrumental keeper of art history via numerous landmark exhibitions on Old Masters such as El Greco and Velazquez. In 2015, the Grand Palais, together with The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Canada, staged the first retrospective devoted to Élisabeth Vigée-Le Brun. One of 14 women artists accepted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in pre-Revolutionary Paris, Vigée-Le Brun was an acclaimed painter who counted Marie Antoinette among her chief supporters. She captured her likeness in sensitive portraits in the twilight of the French monarchy.
‘Drawing Room in the Baryatinsky House in Altona’, 1807. Found in the collection of the State A Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
Vigée-Le Brun pursued a storied career despite numerous political adversities. She fled France during the French Revolution and traveled across Europe to secure the favor of important female patrons such as Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily, the first Empress of Austria, and Catherine the Great, the Empress of Russia. This trailblazing exhibition precipitated the contemporary turn toward women artists by both art historians and the art trade—a shift that is likely to continue at Art Basel Paris this October.