October is one of the best months for art in Paris. The city combines a major Cézanne retrospective at the Grand Palais with the return of Art Basel Paris, alongside museum exhibitions on Mary Cassatt, Kurt Schwitters, photography and contemporary art.
Here’s what to see if you are visiting Paris this month.
Cézanne and Us at the Grand Palais
Cezanne and Us is the season’s central exhibition. On view at the Grand Palais until January 17, 2027, it brings together around 180 works, including about 70 by Paul Cézanne.
The show places Cézanne alongside artists who drew from his work across generations, including Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso, Mondrian, Joan Mitchell and Peter Doig. Rather than treating Cézanne as a historical figure alone, the exhibition presents him as a continuing influence on modern and contemporary painting.
For visitors interested in the origins of modern art, this is the exhibition to prioritise. It is also a strong choice for anyone interested in how artistic influence travels from one generation to the next.
Art Basel Paris at the Grand Palais
Art Basel Paris 2026 takes place at the Grand Palais from October 23 to 25, with preview days on October 21 and 22. The fair brings together 211 exhibitors from 41 countries and territories, including more than 60 French galleries.
The fair is divided into three sectors: Galeries, Emergence and Premise. Galeries presents established modern and contemporary galleries; Emergence focuses on 16 solo presentations by emerging artists; and Premise offers 12 curated projects that revisit overlooked or less familiar art histories.
Even if you are not attending the ticketed fair, Art Basel week extends across Paris through public installations and off-site exhibitions. One example is Gener8ion’s free audiovisual installation in the Grand Palais’s Rotonde d’Antin, open from October 22 to 25.
Mary Cassatt at the Musée d’Orsay
At the Musée d’Orsay, Mary Cassatt: Being Independent opens on October 6 and runs until January 31, 2027. The retrospective presents nearly 80 paintings, pastels and prints, marking the centenary of Cassatt’s death.
Organised with London’s National Gallery and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the exhibition follows Cassatt’s career through the theme of independence. It is a timely opportunity to see her work in a broader context than the familiar Impressionist narratives of mothers, children and domestic interiors.
Kurt Schwitters at the Musée Picasso
Kurt Schwitters: The Chaos-World, 1918–1948 opens at the Musée national Picasso-Paris on October 6 and continues until February 7, 2027. The exhibition includes more than 300 paintings, sculptures and collages.
Schwitters is best known for his collages and assemblages, and this exhibition traces the inventive range of his practice across three decades. It is a good complement to the Cézanne exhibition: where Cézanne offers a long view of artistic influence, Schwitters shows how artists transformed fragments, printed matter and everyday materials into new visual languages.
Photography and contemporary art
October also brings strong programming beyond the headline retrospectives.
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The Bourse de Commerce presents an exhibition spanning 200 years of photography, offering a broad view of the medium’s history and contemporary relevance.
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Fondation Louis Vuitton turns its attention to collector Gustave Fayet, connecting modern art with collecting and patronage.
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At the Palais d’Iéna, filmmaker Alice Diop presents Geste de Consolation, an Art Basel Paris public programme project combining film, photography, sculpture, literature, dance and performance from October 21 to 25.
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The Musée d’Orsay also presents Vertigo: Richard Peduzzi, revisiting the designer’s 1986 scenography for the museum through models, drawings and sculptures.
How to plan your Paris visit
For a focused art weekend, begin with Cezanne and Us at the Grand Palais, then visit the Musée d’Orsay for Mary Cassatt: Being Independent. If you are in Paris during Art Basel week, add the fair and at least one public programme project to your itinerary.
For a broader view of Paris’s art scene, pair one historical exhibition with a contemporary show or photography exhibition. October offers an unusually good balance between modern-art history, contemporary art fairs, and exhibitions that connect painting, photography, fashion and performance.
