Art Exhibitions in France in December 2026: Paris Openings and Lyon's Last Days

December 2026 divides this French art itinerary in two. The Lyon Contemporary Art Biennale ends on 13 December; Mika Ninagawa's Grand Palais exhibition begins on the 16th. Both belong to the month's calendar, but they cannot be seen during the same short weekend. That distinction gives the choice of dates real consequences.

Our selection combines five Paris exhibitions with Lyon's final biennale weeks. Painting, collecting, fashion and installation each offer a different route into how images are made and circulated. It is a focused selection for these two cities, rather than a claim to cover every French exhibition.

Six exhibitions in France for December 2026

1. Cezanne and Us: a painter whose influence is still debated in painting

The Grand Palais places Cezanne in dialogue with later artists including Matisse, Picasso, Joan Mitchell and Peter Doig. This makes the exhibition interesting as an account of what artists take from one another, rather than a simple celebration of influence.

The strongest comparisons should be specific enough to identify: a problem of depth, a compressed form or a particular use of colour. A later artist can disagree with Cezanne as productively as follow him. We would begin here for a Paris visit centred on painting and its ongoing debates.

2. Mika Ninagawa with EiM: colour with a shadow behind it

Alive with Shadows opens on 16 December, bringing photographs, moving images and installations into a spatial presentation. Ninagawa's floral imagery and saturated colour carry an interest in the fragility of what they preserve.

Our Mika Ninagawa exhibition guide covers the project and its Paris visiting arrangements. The editorial attraction is the tension between immediate visual pleasure and the knowledge that beauty fades. The exhibition's rooms will have to carry that tension beyond their first photographic impression.

3. Gustave Fayet: the collector within the creator

Fondation Louis Vuitton examines Fayet as a collector and a creative figure. The combination puts selection itself under scrutiny. What someone chooses to acquire can reveal an artistic imagination as clearly as what they create.

This is the choice for readers interested in a collection as a set of commitments rather than an accumulation of prestige. Look for the relationship between Fayet's own activity and the works he brought together. The biography of a collection is often more surprising than a list of its most famous names.

4. Le Musée Imaginaire d'Oli: a personal museum takes shape

From 2 December, Olivio Ordonez and Jérôme Sans bring the idea of an imaginary museum into the Grand Palais programme. It offers another route into the building, through creative association and the act of selection.

The question is what happens when works are placed within someone else's field of references. A new neighbour can change an object's meaning without changing the object itself. The project is worth following for readers interested in the space between personal taste and curatorial argument.

5. Girls: appearance as a form of negotiation

Opening on 9 December, Girls: Adolescence, Fashion, Rebellion connects identity, dress and cultural expression. Its subject invites attention to how appearance can both establish belonging and challenge expectations.

We would resist reading the title as a promise of a single shared adolescent experience. The more interesting exhibition will reveal differences between the perspectives it presents. Clothing can be a chosen language, an imposed code or a way of testing where a social boundary lies.

6. Lyon Contemporary Art Biennale: the deadline that changes the route

To Pass from One Dream to Another, the eighteenth Lyon biennale, closes on 13 December. It is the time-sensitive choice in this selection. A later Paris trip cannot be expanded to include it by simply adding another rail journey.

Its multiple venues also demand a different plan from a single museum exhibition. Choose the presentations that most interest you, then allow travel between them. The point of a biennale is the relationship between distinct encounters; reaching every site is not by itself an interpretation of the programme.

Choosing the first or second half of December

Early December makes Lyon possible alongside Paris exhibitions that are already open. After 16 December, all five Paris selections are scheduled to be running, but Lyon's biennale has ended. To include all six requires a longer stay spanning the gap or separate trips.

The Grand Palais hosts several of these exhibitions, with separate visiting arrangements. For Ninagawa, published holiday exceptions include closure on 25 December and early closing at 18:00 on 24 and 31 December. Confirm each chosen exhibition's conditions before treating a shared building as a combined ticket.

Editor’s Note

Our Paris choices return repeatedly to the power of selection: Cezanne seen through later artists, Fayet through his collection, and an imaginary museum built around a personal field of references. Ninagawa adds a different proposition, asking an image to become an environment. That makes the second half of December particularly attractive for a trip centred on Paris.

We would still prioritise Lyon for readers whose main interest is a biennale's larger curatorial argument, because its window is closing. For a different winter emphasis, art exhibitions in Germany in December 2026 offers a closer conversation about the body, memory and historical visibility. These are distinct reasons to travel, and our preference is for an itinerary with a clear idea behind it.