Ah, to be in Paris in the summertime, when it’s almost as pleasant to lounge in a park as it is to venture into the capital’s museums. In fact, the two are often best enjoyed when they’re linked: napping on the grass after discovering a cutting-edge artist in a new gallery is, in our opinion, one of the best ways you can spend a Sunday afternoon.
Whether you’re in France for Vogue World, vacances, or some combination of the two, there are all manner of compelling exhibitions to see this month. From work by self-taught American artist Kelly Beeman to a new Miquel Barceló survey, Vogue has selected the must-see gallery and museum shows in Paris (and beyond) this June.
Franco-American photographer and sculptor Sabine Mirlesse has long made geology the focus of her work. Her installations, both monumental and ephemeral, invite viewers to see the poetry in visions we might consider trivial—take Crystalline Thresholds | Les Portes de Givre, a series of seven frosted structures erected on the summit of the Puy de Dôme at an altitude of 1,465 meters. With “Voyant,” her new exhibition at Galerie Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Sabine Mirlesse continues to pursue her obsessions, unveiling a new series of never-before-exhibited works.
“Sabine Mirlesse: Voyant” is at Andréhn-Schiptjenko (Paris) through July 20, 2024.
Kelly Beeman (b. Oklahoma City, 1983) paints some of the most soothing and serene scenes in contemporary art, her figures characterized by their pale complexions, flowing hair, and clothing loosely drawn from fashion illustrations and runway photography. Her current exhibition at Perrotin in Paris features three new oil paintings and 20 works on paper, including her debut in monochromatic ink paintings—further expanding her captivating artistic universe.
“Kelly Beeman: Distant Cities” is at Perrotin (Paris) through June 29, 2024.
Since 2017, the Jean-Jacques Henner Museum, in collaboration with the Beaux-Arts de Paris, has hosted emerging talents in residence; Margaux Laurens-Neel, a 2021 graduate, is the sixth artist to join. Her end-of-residency exhibition, “Henner, le ruban, la braise,” features her naiads—large female figures symbolizing women’s power. Unlike Niki de Saint-Phalle’s Nanas, Laurens-Neel’s characters engage in a striking dialogue with Jean-Jacques Henner’s portraits of women in Alsatian headdresses.
“Henner, le ruban, la braise,” includes a seven-meter-long painting, ceramics, and photographs, modernizing the depiction of women in art. This theme runs through Laurens-Neel’s work; in 2022, she published a study on women artists at the Beaux-Arts de Paris from 1899 to 2022, guided by art historian François-René Martin.
“Margaux Laurens-Neel: Henner, the Ribbon, the Ember” is at the Musée national Jean-Jacques Henner (Paris) through September 23, 2024.
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It’s hard to remain indifferent to Ilana Savdie’s monumental paintings. Vibrant, colorful, flamboyant, and abstract, they transform and transgress reality, imagining fantastical and brilliant worlds. Raised in Barranquilla, Colombia, she was immersed in the vivid imagery of the annual Barranquilla Carnival, the third largest in the world. Its euphoria and vibrant atmosphere are captured in her paintings through a mix of textures and forms, creating imagery that flirts with the grotesque. Now based in Brooklyn, Savdie is having her first solo exhibition in France with “Ectopia,” showcasing new paintings and works on paper that continue her political exploration of carnival and its queer interpretations.
“Ilana Savdie, Ectopia” is at White Cube gallery (Paris) through July 27, 2024.
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Eva Jospin’s works are known for transforming extraordinary spaces into immersive and breathtaking experiences. For Dior’s fall 2021 couture show, she created La Chambre de soie, a vast embroidered tapestry that dressed the set. In the summer of 2023, she took over the Palais des Papes in Avignon, installing her landscapes in several rooms of the world’s largest Gothic palace. Now, her ingenious spirit expands to the Fortuny Museum in Venice and the Orangerie at the Château de Versailles.
But can her work be admired in a more intimate setting? Yes! Since June 7, some of her pieces have been exhibited for the first time at the Galleria Continua in Paris. This show presents the variety of techniques Jospin has mastered, from her iconic cardboard forests and sculptures to her drawings, embroideries, and bronzes.
“Eva Jospin: Tromper l œil” is at galleria Continua (Paris) from June 7 to September 14, 2024.
Miquel Barceló is undoubtedly one of the most famous names in contemporary Spanish painting. Largely influenced by images from his childhood on the island of Mallorca, he has made the ocean the focal point of his work. Inspired by Jean Dubuffet, Antoni Tàpies, and Jackson Pollock, the 67-year-old Spaniard is often associated with the neo-expressionist movement, his mixed-relief paintings, expressive bronze sculptures, and his ceramics offering extraordinary visions of the natural world around him.
Always experimenting with non-traditional materials such as volcanic ash, food, seaweed, sediment and homemade pigments, from the 1980s onwards his work became increasingly unreal, punctuated by holes, cracks, and transparencies. At Monaco’s Nouveau Musée National, some 60 works have been selected to explore the artist’s relationship with the sea, from his many still lifes inherited from the bodegón tradition, to his powerful wave compositions and ceramics inspired by antiquity.
“Miquel Barceló, Oceanographer” is at the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (Monaco) from June 7 to October 13, 2024.
To mark the 40th anniversary of his death, the exhibition “Le regard magique” at Montpellier’s Musée Fabre looks back at the life of the artist Jean Hugo. Born in 1894, the great-grandson of Victor Hugo was self-taught in an environment conducive to the development of his artistic talent. In 1929, he fled the hustle and bustle of Paris for the village of Fourques, near Lunel, where Mediterranean landscapes quickly invaded his works. His daily routine was regulated: mornings were devoted to painting, while afternoons were reserved for long walks in the countryside, which filled his canvases with its shapes and colors. The flora and fauna of the region permeate his work, along with its folklore and myths. These obsessions are reflected in the 330-odd works on display this summer at Montpellier s Musée Fabre.
“Jean Hugo: The Magic Look” is at the Musée Fabre (Montpellier) from June 28 to October 13, 2024.