PARIS
Sempé
Beloved on both sides of the Atlantic for his New Yorker covers and his gentle caricatures of French society, Jean-Jacques Sempé is the star of an exhibit at Paris’s Hôtel de Ville. Sempé, un peu de Paris et d’ailleurs features more than 300 original drawings accompanied by texts written by the artist himself; the charming illustrations showcase his signature humor, poetry and understated sense of the absurd. Through Feb. 11; paris.fr.

Living in Pompeii
While many amphitheaters, temples and other public sites survived the fall of the Roman Empire, the same cannot be said for private homes. The few that were preserved in their entirety were located in the villages buried by ash during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The Musée Maillol brings one such house back to life in Pompéi – Un art de vivre. Each room in this reconstructed domus pompeiana is decorated with frescoes and objects, including 200 works from Pompeii and nearby sites. Through Feb. 12; museemaillol.com.

The Wyeths
The Mona Bismarck Foundation examines an artistic dynasty in The Wyeths: Trois générations d’artistes américains. The show brings together more than 70 paintings and drawings by family patriarch N.C. Wyeth, renowned for lush oil illustrations of such classic tales as Treasure Island and Rip Van Winkle; Andrew Wyeth, widely regarded as one of America’s finest realist painters; and Jamie Wyeth, a realist painter and onetime colleague of Andy Warhol. Through Feb. 12; monabismarck.org.

Cézanne and Paris
While Cézanne is inevitably associated with Provence, the painter spent much time in and around Paris during his artistic career, traveling between Aix and the capital more than 20 times. The Musée du Luxembourg’s Cézanne et Paris focuses on the master’s work in the City of Light, presented thematically in five sections: “Following Zola to Paris,” “Paris and Auvers,” “The Temptation of Paris,” “Still Lifes and Portraits” and “The Paths of Silence.” Through Feb. 26; museeduluxembourg.fr.

“Femme nue aux longs cheveux, renversée en arrière” (c. 1900) is part of a show at the Musée Rodin devoted to the sculptor’s drawings. Photo: ©Jean de Calan/Musée Rodin

Rodin Drawings
During the last three decades of his life, Auguste Rodin developed a passion for drawing. The great sculptor drew every day from live models, producing series on the mythological beauty Psyche, women in dressing gowns, Cambodian dancers…. La saisie du modèle – Rodin, 300 dessins, 1890-1917 at the Musée Rodin brings together many of these alluring works. Through Feb. 26; musee-rodin.fr.

Art by Numbers
In Mathematical: Un dépaysement soudain, the beauty and insights of mathematics are reinterpreted through films, sound pieces and installations. Six award-winning mathematicians and a number of well-known artists—among them David Lynch and Patti Smith—collaborated on this show at the Fondation Cartier, which transforms the abstract thinking characteristic of this discipline into a sensory, intellectual experience accessible to all. Through Feb. 29; fondation.cartier.com.

Roots of Expressionism
Expressionismus & Expressionismi (the title references the 1986 Venice exhibition “Futurismo & Futurismi”) delves into the origins of German Expressionism. The movement grew out of two currents: the theoretical, intellectual Die Blaue Reiter, which embraced the concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or “total work of art”; and Die Brücke, which emphasized the importance of emotion and instinct. The Pinacothèque de Paris contrasts these distinct schools through some 150 works, including canvases by Kirchner, Nolde and Schmitt-Rottluff as well as Kandinsky, Marc and Jawlensky. Through March 11; pinacotheque.com.

Art and Décor
Décors et installations presents contemporary works commissioned by the Mobilier National, the institution that supplies furniture and furnishings to French government offices and embassies. Held in two venues—the Galerie des Gobelins in Paris and the Galerie nationale de la Tapisserie in Beauvais—the exhibit features tapestries, lace and upholstered pieces created from cartoons by artists such as Shirley Jaffe and Louise Bourgeois. Through April 15; mobiliernational.fr.

Dance of Life
The Centre Pompidou is staging an unprecedented exhibit devoted to the relationship between dance and the visual arts from 1900 to the present. Danser sa vie shows how together, dance and the visual arts inspired the major figures and artistic movements of the 20th century. Presented in three sections—“The Dance of the Senses, from Auguste Rodin to Matthew Barney”; “The Abstraction of the Body, from Loïe Fuller to Alwin Nikolais”; and “The Body as Event, from Dada to Jérôme Bel”—the show illustrates the ongoing dialogue between dance and other disciplines through paintings, sculptures, installations, films, videos and performances. Through April 2; centrepompidou.fr.

Adorned with 120 stones, Johann-Christian Neuber’s round box (c. 1789) at the Musée Cognacq-Jay is a miniature masterpiece. Photo: ©F. Cochennec & C. Rabourdin/Musée Cognacq-Jay/Roger-Viollet

Little Boxes
The Musée Cognacq-Jay boasts one of the largest collections of 18th-century ornamental boxes in France. Crafted of gold and mother-of-pearl, porcelain or translucent enamel, these exquisite objects—often adorned with intricate miniatures or precious stones—held everything from snuff to writing materials to mouches (faux beauty spots made of black muslin). Some even came in fanciful shapes: a dromedary, a masked face, a violin…. Boîtes en or et objets de vertu au XVIIIe siècle features nearly 200 of these precious items. Through May 6; cognacq-jay.paris.fr.

Claude Debussy
A seminal figure in Impressionist music, Claude Debussy drew inspiration from poetry and the visual arts, expressing particular admiration for the works of Degas, Renoir, Gauguin, Camille Claudel, Redon, Bonnard, Carrière and Puvis de Chavennes. In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth, the Orangerie’s Debussy, la musique et les arts explores his relationship with the artists of his time through paintings, drawings, pastels, letters and photographs. Feb. 21 through June 11; musee-orangerie.fr.

After receiving a major donation, Paris’s Museum of Modern Art is showcasing Giorgio de Chirico, including his “Tempio del sole” (1971). Photo: ©ADAGP, Paris 2011

Giorgio de Chirico
The Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris recently received a major donation of works by Giorgio de Chirico, co-founder of the “Pittura metafisica” movement, from the Giorgio et Isa de Chi-rico Foundation. The museum is displaying these works—30 canvases, 20 drawings and 11 sculptures—in a single room throughout the winter, spring and part of the summer. Through July; mam.paris.fr.

Stories of Babar
With Les Histoires de Babar, the toy gallery at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs fêtes the 80th birthday of everyone’s favorite elephant king. The exhibit showcases some 100 original drawings from the various storybooks as well as Babar-inspired toys and games from the 1930s to the present, and archival photos, cartoons and products featuring the famous pachyderm. Through Sept. 2; lesartsdecoratifs.fr.

AVIGNON
Vik Muniz
In Vik Muniz: le Musée imaginaire, Avignon’s Collection Lambert presents 110 works by the contemporary Brazilian artist known for working in such unconventional materials as wire, thread, sugar, chocolate syrup, shredded paper and garbage (the 2010 Oscar-nominated Waste Land chronicled Muniz’s work with garbage pickers on the world’s largest dump on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro). The artist often appropriates famous art works—the “Mona Lisa,” Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” and so on—that then serve as the basis for his own pieces. A special installation will also be on view at the Eglise des Célestins for the duration of the show. Through May 13; collectionlambert.fr.

EVIAN
Charlie Chaplin
In January 2011, the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland, announced that it had received an enormous donation comprising some 10,000 photographs tracing the entire career of Charlie Chaplin. Charlie Chaplin: Images d’un mythe at Evian’s Palais des Lumières draws from this fabulous collection, bringing the Little Tramp to life through photographs, film clips, posters, press clippings and more. Through May 20; ville-evian.fr.

Louis Léopold Boilly’s portrait of one of his sons (c. 1795-1800) adds a tender note to Lille’s anniversary retrospective at the Palais des Beaux-Arts. Photo: ©Le Mage/RMN

LILLE
Louis Boilly
A gifted portraitist, clever caricaturist and master of trompe-l’œil, Louis Léopold Boilly chronicled societal changes with humor, originality and virtuosity—all clearly evident in this namesake exhibition at Lille’s Palais des Beaux-Arts. Marking the 250th anniversary of Boilly’s birth, the show features nearly 200 paintings, drawings, lithographs, miniatures and pieces of furniture from prestigious international collections. Through Feb. 6; pba-lille.fr.

LYON
Robert Combas
An exponent of the Figuration Libre movement, Robert Combas has always compared his work to rock music. Robert Combas: Greatest Hits, the first major retrospective devoted to the artist, is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from his own music collection. More than 200 works are displayed in this exhibit at Lyon’s Musée d’Art Contemporain, exploring such themes as religion, sex, love, death, war and of course music. For the duration of the show, Combas will come to the museum on a daily basis to paint and create video clips at a specially designed studio; he will also regularly perform live music at a stage on the third floor. Feb. 24 through July 15; mac-lyon.com.

METZ
Labyrinth
Erre, a major thematic exhibition at the Centre Pompidou-Metz, addresses questions of loss, drifting and deambulation in contemporary art through the motif of the labyrinth. The exhibit is divided into eight sections, including “the labyrinth in architecture,” “memory: the mental maze” and “the maze as artistic metaphor.” Extending over some 20,000 square feet, it features works by French and international artists as well as specially commissioned pieces. Through March 5; centrepompidou-metz.fr.

Bivouac
Known for open-ended products that establish a dialogue with consumers—users can assemble them in ways that best suit their needs—the Bouroullec brothers aren’t interested in simply designing “cool” objects but in changing how people live and work. Bivouac, the largest museum show devoted to the preternaturally talented duo, comprises nearly all of their creations since 1998. Through July 30; centrepompidou-metz.fr.

NORD-PAS DE CALAIS
Drawing Together
Thirty museums in the Nord-Pas de Calais region join forces to showcase their collections of drawings and watercolors in Dessiner — Tracer: 30 musées; 30 expositions. The artists on view run the gamut from Géricault, Victor Hugo, Burne-Jones, Rodin and Matisse to contemporary creators such as Constantin Xanakis, Catherine Melin and Hans Op de Beeck. Through Sept. 2012; dessinertracer.com.