An itinerary from your hotel to visit the landmarks of contemporary art

A ‘road map’ for a weekend discovering contemporary art in Paris

Take advantage of your stay in the French capital to visit some of the Meccas of modern and contemporary art. Start your art tour at La Villa Modigliani, your charm hotel in Paris, where you can admire works by Marseille artist Piotr Klemensiewicz in the lobby, the bar and the seminar rooms.

Around La Villa Modigliani

Just steps away from your hotel in Montparnasse, you will find the elegant Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art, a superb glass and metal cube designed by Jean Nouvel. Raymond Depardon, David Lynch, Patti Smith… this Mecca is home to all kinds of artistic expression.

Your hotel in Montparnasse is well-placed for easy access to the Palais de Tokyo, another experimental site for contemporary art. Located next to the River Seine, this veritable labyrinth, covering a floor area of 14,000 m2, offers a cutting-edge programme.  Be sure not to miss the Paris Museum of Modern Art, also in the 16th arrondissement, where you can immerse yourself in Fauvism and Cubism, admiring works by artists such as Dufy, Matisse or Buren. And, indeed, you should also make a point of seeing the famous Buren’s Columns at the Palais Royal in the first arrondissement. A work of art in the open-air, adorning the inner courtyard, they are officially known as the ‘Deux Plateaux’.

The Pompidou Centre, the high point of your Parisian weekend

Next stop on your tour of Paris’s modern art treasures: the Georges-Pompidou National Centre for Art and Culture in Beaubourg. A surprising example of architecture in the very centre of Paris, it houses works by some of the leading names in contemporary art and organises event exhibitions: Jeff Koons, Jean Cocteau, Apollinaire, architecture and design… and not forgetting the Atelier Brancusi, recreated on the terrace in front of the Centre.

The magnificent Louis Vuitton Foundation!

The huge vessel designed by architect Franck Gehry towers impressively over the Bois de Boulogne and houses the collection belonging to Bernard Arnault, CEO of the LVMH Group. Leading contemporary artists whose works can be found at the Louis Vuitton Foundation include Richter, Boltanski, Mondrian, Rothko, Léger and Warhol… Allow yourself at least half a day for the visit.

And here are a few more ideas, in case you decide to stay at your Parisian charm hotel for a bit longer:

  • The Grand Palais with its majestic glass roof, regularly stages contemporary exhibitions, two examples being Anish Kapoor in 2011 and Picasso Mania in 2015;
  • The Cent Quatre Cultural Centre, symbol of renewal, in the heart of the 18th arrondissement;
  • The Picasso Museum in Montmartre;
  • The Halle Saint-Pierre, which brings together works of popular art, naive art, outsider art, etc.

Obviously, you could never manage to visit all of these sites in just one weekend in Paris, so you need to plan ahead: check the websites to see what exhibitions are on at any given moment, days when there are evening exhibitions, and so on. And you will find other exciting suggestions on La Villa Modigliani’s own website too.