Paris is packed full of world-class galleries: you’ve got the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Grand Palais, and the Musée de l’Orangerie, to name just a few. Then there’s the Centre Pompidou. Designed in the high-tech architectural style, the building looks like it’s been put together inside-out, with pipes and a giant escalator running along the exterior. Love it or loathe it (spoiler alert: we love it), there’s no denying it’s iconic.
But there’s bad news: this summer, Paris’s Centre Pompidou will close its doors for five years of renovations. Got time to squeeze in one last visit? These are the exhibitions and artworks you need to see before the closure.
Suzanne Valadon: January 15 to May 26
While her studio/apartment was opened to the public in 2014 at the Musée de Montmartre, it’s been over fifty years since Suzanne Valadon’s work has been the focus of a major exhibition. This exhibition will correct this oversight, showcasing her career during the first half of the twentieth century, featuring 200 paintings and drawings (including some which have never been shown before) and exploring how Valadon became a key figure in empowering women artists.
Paris Noir: 19 March to 30 June
This exhibition will celebrate the works of 150 Black artists in the Paris art scene in the second half of the twentieth century. Through this retrospective, which will explore numerous artistic movements (surrealism, Afro-Atlantic abstraction, free figuration, and more), the institution aims to examine these artists’ awareness of identity, their aspirations for emancipation, and their pivotal role in the ‘redefinition of modernities and postmodernities.’
Wolfgang Tillmans – Rien ne nous y préparait / Tout nous y préparait: June 13 to September 22
This summer, the Centre Pompidou will hand over the nearly-empty Bibliothèque publique d’information (public information library) to German visual artist Wolfgang Tillmans. In this 6000m2 space, Tillmans will explore themes of community, freedom, and popular culture through a variety of media, including photography, video, music, and text. The exhibition will blend the museum’s archives, specially created works, and the library itself.
What’s happening to the Pompidou’s collection while it’s closed?
The Centre Pompidou is home to some of Paris’s most incredible modern and contemporary artworks, with pieces by the likes of Frida Kahlo, Yves Klein, Marcel Duchamp and Pablo Picasso in its collection. But what will happen to the museum’s many famous pieces during the closure?
Parisians and visitors to the city will get a taste of the Pompidou through its partnerships with other Paris institutions, most notably the Grand Palais RMN and the Louvre. Projects are also being planned with the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Philharmonie de Paris, Musée d’Orsay et de L’Orangerie and more.
The museum will also expand its presence across France during the closure. The Centre Pompidou-Metz, the museum’s outpost in the northeastern city of Metz, will receive some major loans, and the Centre Pompidou | Constellation programme will see institutions in Val-de-Loire, Lyon, Lille, Toulon, Auxerre and Monaco host exhibitions and enter into partnerships with the Pompidou.
Not planning a trip to France? You may be able to catch some of the Pompidou’s pieces abroad. In addition to the museum’s existing outposts in Málaga, Shanghai and Brussels the Centre Pompidou Hanwha-Séoul is expected to open in May 2026, with the Centre Pompidou X Jersey City to follow in 2029 (the Centre Pompidou’s first and only North American outpost based in New Jersey). The museum has also entered into new partnerships with the San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts, Spain’s Fundación La Caixa and H’Art Amsterdam.
Did you see that these are the must-visit museums opening in 2025, according to Lonely Planet?
Plus: France was once again the world’s most visited country last year – here’s the full list.
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