Nine Must-See Exhibitions in Tune with the 2024 Olympics in France

Pantheon, Paris

This year Paris will host the Paralympic Games for the first time. To mark the occasion, the Centre des Monuments Nationaux will tell the story of competitions that have taken place “beside” (para, in ancient Greek) the Olympic Games. “We wanted to house the exhibition‘Paralympic History: From Integration in Sport to Social Inclusion (1948–2024)’ here [in the Pantheon] because it is a Republican site, because many women and men who rest within these walls, including Louis Braille, fought for equality,” says Barbara Wolffer, administrator of the Pantheon.

The exhibit combines articles, posters, photographs, and sporting equipment and is divided into four “moments.” In 1948 neurologist Ludwig Guttmann initiated, at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital, a sporting competition among injured World War II veterans called the Stoke Mandeville Games. In 1960 Rome saw the first “para-Olympic” games with players in wheelchairs (they would later expand to include visually impaired contestants). The year 1989 marked another turning point with the acceptance of deaf athletes in some competitions. And since 2012, slogans like “Meet the Superhumans” have reflected a stronger sense of pride among the contestants. With videos that include sign language, to-be-touched objects, and other accommodations, the exhibit is a model of accessibility.

Through September 29 (Closing at 3:15pm July 26).

Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris

The Musée Marmottan Monet is offering an exhibition titled “En Jeu! Artists and Sport” that shows, through the eyes of painters, photographers, engravers, and sculptors, how sports grew more international, modern, and accessible to women between 1870 and 1930. As the exhibit explains, sports first came to France from the United Kingdom as a hobby among elites. Paintings by Harald Giersing and Marcel Gromaire document an increasing interest in football and rugby; pedagogical plasters by neurologist Paul Richer question the effects of extreme exercise on the body. Also here are posters and newspapers announcing games and tournaments when the modern Olympics were launched in 1896, largely due to the efforts of French educator Pierre de Coubertin. The exhibition also traces the movement of women from spectators to contestants. French tennis champion Suzanne Lenglen dominated the women’s game in the 1920s; some of her medals are on view, in dialogue with a diptych by Maurice Denis featuring two young ladies playing the game.

Through September 1 (Closing at 4pm July 26).

Musée du Louvre, Paris

The Louvre’s exhibition, titled “Olympism: Modern Invention, Ancient Legacy,” explores the context in which the Olympics were rebooted by Pierre de Coubertin in 1896, based on sporting competitions that took place in antiquity. However, the focus of the show is not on Coubertin himself but rather on two little-known figures: French philologist Michel Bréal, who invented the marathon race and designed the first cup meant for the winner of this category, and Swiss painter Émile Gilliéron, the official artist of the 1896 Games. “An emblematic work here [was used as] the cover of the commemorative album of the Olympic Games, which later served as a poster. It shows a child’s sarcophagus, which was on display when Gilliéron came to the Louvre,” says chief curator Violaine Jeammet. Concluding the show is the sculpture Finnish Discus Thrower by Konstantinos Dimitriadis, which won a gold medal in the arts competition during the 1924 Summer Olympics.

Through September 16 (Closed July 26).

Parc de la Villette, Paris

Out of the nine million euros invested by the French Ministry of Culture in the Cultural Olympiad, one million was invested in the “Archi-Folies.” This outdoor exhibition consists of 20 pavilions designed and built by students from as many architecture schools. Those temporary constructions dialogue with the 26 red “follies”—buildings, bridges, and walkways designed by Bernard Tschumi and installed in the Parc de la Villette in the 1980s. Each pavilion represents a different sports federation. The project contributed by ENSA Paris-Malaquais, for instance, the curves of which evoke the shape of a foil, is devoted to the French Fencing Federation. Once the Olympics and Paralympics are over, those pavilions will be dismantled and relocated, ideally on the sites of the federations they salute.

Through September 3 (Closed until August 28; open August 28–September 3).

Palais Galliera, Paris

The Palais Galliera, one of the 14 institutions of the City of Paris museums network, presents “La Mode en mouvement #2” (Fashion in Motion #2). This exhibit is the second in a trilogy exploring the connections between the body, fashion, and movement, including sports. With 200 works, mainly clothes from the 18th century to today, the exhibit shows how tennis, golf, and horseback riding outfits, among others, have become more specialized over the years. The seaside section is an opportunity to dive into the incredible collection of swimsuits and beach accessories that the museum holds, and also to understand how our perceptions of tanning, beauty, and nudity have changed over the centuries.

Through January 5, 2025 (Closed July 26).

Palace of Versailles

The Palace of Versailles is going all-out with an exhibition whose subject is horses and equestrianism, showcasing no fewer than 300 artworks spread across the most emblematic galleries of King Louis XIV’s home. The Galerie de Pierre Haute has been turned into a “pantheon of equids” with representations of royal mounts. The Salle de Crimée considers two figures: the war horse, a four-legged hero, and the entertainment horse, embodying chivalry. The Galerie des Glaces is home to a masterpiece recently rediscovered and never shown in France before: a 17th-century portrait by Justus Sustermans featuring seven-year-old Leopoldo de’ Medici on a graceful white mare. Did you know that artists, including Leonardo da Vinci and his master Andrea del Verrocchio, started studying horse anatomy before scientists, and that hippiatry was the forerunner of veterinarian art? In the Appartement de la Dauphine, we see some works that capture the beauty or the soul of horses, and others depicting hybrid creatures including unicorns and centaurs. The end of the exhibit deals with the replacement of horses by cars and trains.

Through November 3 (From July 27–August 11 and from September 3–7, the Palace of Versailles park will host the Olympic equestrian events, the five modern pentathlon events, and the para-equestrian events).

Les Rencontres d’Arles

The Olympics resonate all the way down to “Les Rencontres d’Arles,” the annual photography festival in the south of France. The Musée Départemental presents “Le Sport à l’épreuve” (Sport to the Test), highlighting the codependency between sport and photography. Since the late 19th century, when the modern Olympic Games were launched, both disciplines have, in many respects, evolved together. Images have always been the best way to promote matches and competitions and to capture memorable performances. Hélène Tobler’s zoom on a hockey player at Beijing’s 2008 Summer Olympics conveys a sense of speed and agility, while Lothar Jeck’s “Saut de la barre fixe” (1936) makes high jump look effortless. The exhibition draws from the permanent collections of the Musée Olympique and the Musée Photo Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Through September 29.

Various Venues, Marseille

The summer would not be the same without a trip to funky Marseille. Art critic and curator Jean-Marc Huitorel was invited to put together a triple exhibition, titled “Des exploits, des chefs-d’œuvre” (Exploits and Masterpieces), with 350 works by 100 artists spread across three city sites. FRAC Sud’s “L’Heure de gloire” (The Hour of Glory) includes work by 12 students from Aix-en-Provence’s Art School, while “Trophées et reliques” (Trophies and Relics) at the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations centers on the idea that sports are part of a system of beliefs and that athletes may be worshiped as artists or gods. And the Museum of Contemporary Art’s “Tableaux d’une collection” (Paintings of a Collection) interrogates the connection between art and sport through a selection of paintings, photographs, and drawings.

Through September 8.

Tripostal, Lille

Upon entering the Tripostal, an art venue next to the Lille-Flandres station, visitors can grasp how ambitious the “Textimoov!” exhibition is. It is the sixth edition of the “Futurotextiles” project launched in 2006 as a tribute to innovative textile designers. The display, occupying a 64,000-square-foot space, showcases the latest trends in the textile industry as it relates to sport and movement, with a special focus on French icons (Thierry Mugler, Marine Serre, Pierre Cardin, etc.) and younger talents including Marianna Ladreyt, Xavier Brisoux and Tom van der Borght. Highlights include Stéphane Ashpool’s designs for this year’s French Olympic team uniforms and the introduction of sportswear in haute couture collections. Visitors also get to travel to the moon and Mars through designs by Brisoux, who specializes in knitwear. Because the textile industry is the third most polluting industrial sector in the world, a section has been devoted to recycling and upcycling to reduce waste. “Clothing, health, transport, defense, space . . . . Textiles are everywhere in our daily lives, pushing back the boundaries of what’s possible,” says curator Caroline David.

Through September 29.