Grand Palais
Paris
Open Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Late opening on Fridays until 10 p.m.
Closed on Mondays
7 avenue Winston Churchill
75008 Paris
After four years of renovation, the Grand Palais—one of Paris’s most iconic monuments—began reopening progressively with the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024. It now hosts exhibitions and events as part of a vibrant and festive program led by GrandPalaisRmn.
As a central partner in the Centre Pompidou’s Constellation, the Grand Palais presents four major exhibitions each year in its main galleries, co-produced with the Centre Pompidou. Its nave, auditoriums, and other spaces are home to performances and large-scale events, while the Salon Seine features dedicated spaces for young audiences and educational programming designed by the Centre.
This exhibition explores the key moments in the careers of Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002) and Jean Tinguely (1925-1991). Far beyond their personal relationship, the pair shared a powerful and enduring artistic dialogue, amplified by the influence of Pontus Hulten (1924-2006), the founding director of the Musée National d’Art Moderne at the Centre Pompidou.
The exhibition offers both a historical and playful journey through Tinguely’s kinetic machines, Saint Phalle’s colorful reliefs and sculptures, rare archival footage, and exceptional documentation.
Marion Pinaffo and Raphaël Pluvinage, both trained as designers, create mechanical and poetic devices that explore technologies, invisible phenomena, and hidden realities around us—making them visible and tangible. Voûtes & volutes is a suspended textile installation that comes to life at regular intervals. It draws inspiration from rhythmic gymnastics ribbon routines as well as Loïe Fuller’s Serpentine Dance. It echoes Jean Tinguely's kinetic works presented in the exhibition "Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Pontus Hulten".
Activities and games are available at the Salon Seine’s creative counter, offering various ways to engage with and activate the installation.
The Salon Seine at the Grand Palais is a space specially designed for families, freely accessible without reservation.
It features a creative activity counter, a youth-focused book and gift shop, food and drink options, and free activities for everyone aged 2 and up.
Each year, the space hosts a new installation commissioned from an artist—created specifically for the venue and in dialogue with the exhibitions in the adjacent galleries. A mediation and play kit is available to extend the experience.
Entrée libre par le Square Jean Perrin
Located in the heart of Paris, the Grand Palais is a remarkable monument built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle.
With its monumental architecture, vast interior volumes, and rich history, the Grand Palais is a uniquely significant cultural and heritage site in Paris. Since its opening at the turn of the 20th century, it has echoed the great artistic, scientific, and societal movements of its time.
For over a century, the Grand Palais has hosted major exhibitions, cultural events, international fairs, and large-scale public gatherings. Its nave—spanning 13,500 square meters under the largest glass roof in Europe—has become a defining symbol of the Parisian landscape.
GrandPalaisRmn oversees the programming of the Grand Palais. Since the 1960s, it has produced both monographic and thematic art exhibitions, and welcomed major cultural, sporting, and culinary events into the Nave. It is also responsible for safeguarding the monument’s architectural heritage.
The Grand Palais’s major exhibitions span all artistic disciplines and eras, and resonate with the events held in the Nave, where culture takes many forms: contemporary art, fashion, science, photography, ecology, gastronomy, and sport.
The Palais de la Découverte, a center for science education managed by Universcience, is also housed within the Grand Palais—further reinforcing its role as a place of knowledge and public engagement.
The renovation of the Nave and surrounding galleries will be completed following the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, marking a new chapter in the monument’s history. The Grand Palais will fully reopen in June 2025 with a new season of must-see exhibitions in the heart of Paris.
