PARIS
Doisneau and Les Halles
Robert Doisneau snapped his first photo of Les Halles in 1933. He returned to the huge food market and its surrounding neighborhood quite often during the next 40 years, chronicling its changes and eventual destruction. The Hôtel de Ville’s Doisneau, Paris Les Halles comprises 150 mostly vintage prints of the neighborhood once known as “the belly of Paris,” with a special room devoted to color photographs taken during the 1960s. Through April 28; paris.fr.

Berenice Abbott
The Jeu de Paume’s Berenice Abbott spans the entire career of the American photographer. This important retrospective begins with Abbott’s work in Paris, where she made portraits of artistic and literary luminaries (Eugène Atget, Marcel Duchamp, James Joyce, Jean Cocteau…), moves on to her depictions of New York and southern vernacular architecture, and wraps up with her abstract, experimental images illustrating scientific principles. Through April 29; jeudepaume.org.

Masks of the Maya
For the Maya, who venerated the color green, jade was a rare and precious stone, so the discovery of 15 jade mosaic masks at burial sites in Mexico was especially thrilling. The Pinacothèque de Paris displays most of these fully restored objects—created for Mayan dignitaries to ensure eternal life—in Les Masques de jade mayas, together with seven reconstituted Mayan tombs harboring a rich selection of burial offerings. This is the first time these treasures have left Mexico. Through June 10; pinacotheque.com.

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, Redon and Bonnard, among others. 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. Through June 11; musee-orangerie.fr.

Helmut Newton
In his provocative and sometimes shocking work, Helmut Newton sought to capture the beauty, eroticism, humor and occasional violence that he sensed within the worlds of fashion, luxury, money and power. This namesake retrospective at the Grand Palais brings together more than 200 prints made under Newton’s supervision. Through June 17; grandpalais.fr.

Henri Matisse’s “Capucines à La Danse I” (1912) is part of a landmark exhibit at the Centre Pompidou. Photo: ©The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Matisse Motifs
Matisse – Paires et series, a landmark exhibit at the Centre Pompidou, investigates a distinctive facet of the master’s oeuvre: his habit of simultaneously exploring the same motif in two or more creations, using different approaches. The show, which includes some 60 works presented in pairs or series, spans Matisse’s career, from his Pointillist experiments in 1904 to his paper cutouts from the 1950s. Through June 18; centrepompidou.fr.

Monumenta 2012
French artist Daniel Buren follows Anish Kapoor, Christian Boltanski, Richard Serra and Anselm Kiefer as guest artist at Paris’s Monumenta 2012, held in the nave of the Grand Palais. May 10 through June 21; monumenta.com.

Saint Anne
Leonardo da Vinci’s final masterpiece, “Virgin and Child with Saint Anne,” is back on view at the Louvre after undergoing restoration. The museum celebrates its return with L’ultime chez-d’œuvre de Léonard de Vinci: la Sainte-Anne, reuniting the 1498 oil painting with all the documents, studies, drawings, archival pieces and other works that have contributed to the understanding of how it was created. Through June 25; louvre.fr.

Degas and the Nude
Fresh from Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, Degas et le nu at the Musée d’Orsay is the first exhibit devoted exclusively to the artist’s treatment of the human body. It begins with early life studies from Degas’s student years in the 1850s, continues with his brothel monotypes and “naturalist” nudes shown performing their toilette, and concludes with a series of bathers. The show features some 160 paintings, sculptures and works on paper. Through July 1; musee-orsay.fr.

Mexico 2000-2012
Resisting the Present – Mexico 2000-2012 showcases a generation that is strongly committed to social and political change. Bringing together 24 artists, most born after 1975, this exhibit at the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris features installations, videos, drawings, photographs and films dealing with such issues as globalization and technology, dashed hopes for civilian democracy, and the rise of social tensions linked to corruption and violence. Through July 8; mam.paris.fr.

Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan, l’explosion Rock at the Cité de la Musique chronicles key moments between 1961 and 1966, the years when the singer-songwriter recorded his first albums and then sparked a musical revolution when he “went electric.” Created by L.A.’s Grammy Museum, the exhibit—presenting previously unpublished photos, objects, rare documents and audiovisual archives—tells the story of a personal evolution that both reflected and helped precipitate societal change. Through July 15; citedelamusique.fr.

Featured at the Musée Maillol, Artemisia Gentileschi’s erotic “Danae” (c. 1612) is said to resemble the artist, who was only 19 when she painted the canvas. Photo: ©Saint Louis, The Saint Louis Art Museum

Artemisia
At a time when women had no legal rights and were utterly dependent on their male relatives, Artemisia Gentileschi carved out a brilliant artistic career. She became the first female painter admitted to Florence’s Accademia del Disegno and ran her own studio in Naples for some 25 years, shaping many of the era’s great talents. The Musée Maillol’s Artemisia 1593/1654 – Pouvoir, gloire et passions d’une femme peintre traces the career of this creative genius who overcame rape, scandal and societal restrictions to amass an extraordinary body of work. Through July 15; museemaillol.com.

Animal Beauty
The Grand Palais’s Beauté animale looks at the relationships that Western artists from Albrecht Dürer to Jeff Koons have developed with the animal world through some 130 masterpieces portraying wild and domestic beasts on their own terms, without a human presence. Among the topics explored are aesthetic and moral prejudices, evolution, the sensitivity of animals and their “otherness.” Through July 16; grandpalais.fr.

Eugène Atget
The Musée Carnavalet focuses on one of the 20th century’s most famous photographers in Eugène Atget, Paris, featuring 230 photographs of the French capital taken between 1898 and 1927. Mixing famous and virtually unknown images of city streets, gardens, quays, traditional shops and itinerant peddlers, the exhibit paints a portrait of Belle Epoque and post-WWI Paris that transcends the usual clichés. A room devoted to an album of 43 Atget prints collected by artist Man Ray in the 1920s reveals Atget’s influence on the Surrealists. April 25 through July 29; carnavalet.paris.fr.

A whimsical illustration from Tim Burton’s book of children’s poetry, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories (1998), displayed at the Cinémathèque. Photo: private Collection/©2011 Tim Burton

Tim Burton
Described as “the love child of Walt Disney and Edgar Allen Poe,” Tim Burton is the subject of an eponymous show at the Cinémathèque française. This major exhibit, which originated at MoMA in 2009, showcases the filmmaker’s talents as an illustrator, painter, video artist, photographer and sculptor through some 700 works: drawings, photographs, figurines, objects, costumes, film clips…. It will be accompanied by a complete Burton film retrospective as well as lectures and workshops. Through Aug. 5; cinematheque.fr.

Robert Crumb
A founder of the underground comix movement, Robert Crumb is a legendary countercultural figure whose satirical view of society’s hypocrisies and absurdities is rendered in a distinctive drawing style. The Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris pays tribute to the artist—a French resident since 1991—in Crumb: De l’Underground à la Genèse, which chronologically explores Crumb’s various obsessions: his love/hate/fear of women, his passion for music and his acerbic view of the modern world. April 13 through Aug. 19; mam.paris.fr.

Eight Decades of Ricard
Summers in the South of France are inevitably associated with pastis, the cloudy anisette beverage that came into its own when absinthe was banned in 1915. With Ricard SA depuis 1932, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs toasts the 80th anniversary of one of France’s most emblematic companies, showcasing the apéritif’s brand image, advertisements, spin-off products and pop-culture creds. Through Aug. 26; lesartsdecoratifs.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; 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.

Louis Vuitton – Marc Jacobs
The fashion gallery at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs tells the stories of two innovative designers and their indelible contributions to la mode in Louis Vuitton – Marc Jacobs. While analyzing various trends and techniques, the exhibit highlights the many ways in which each man pushed the industry forward, keeping LV on the cusp of contemporary fashion through the force of his own particular vision. Through Oct. 14; lesartsdecoratifs.fr.

Illuminating Lighthouses
In the age of electronic navigational devices, lighthouses have lost none of their mystique. Phares! at the Musée de la Marine sheds light on every aspect of these maritime beacons—their history, their scientific and technical development, the lives of their keepers, their role in popular culture—through photographs, texts, films and objects. A highlight of the show is a full-sized model of the watch room in the Héaux de Bréhat lighthouse in Brittany. Through Nov. 4; musee-marine.fr.

The Palais de Tokyo, dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. Photo: Strobilomyces reopening The PALAIS DE TOKYO reopens its doors on April 12 after undergoing massive renovations lasting more than a year. Having nearly tripled in size, the revamped space—measuring more than 235,000 square feet—is now one of Europe’s largest contemporary art venues.     To mark the occasion, the Palais de Tokyo hosts the third edition of La Triennale, a wide-ranging festival of contemporary art. Curated by Okwui Enwezor, the event—subtitled “Intense Proximity”—will investigate what it means to be a working artist in today’s diverse and globalized art scene. April 20 through Aug. 26, latriennale.org.

AIX-EN-PROVENCE
Masterpieces from Frieder Burda
The Frieder Burda Museum in Baden Baden is known throughout Europe for the quality and diversity of its holdings. The Musée Granet’s Les chefs-d’œuvre du Musée Frieder Burda presents more than 50 masterworks—mainly large-format paintings—from that outstanding collection, including works by Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke and Georg Baselitz, and American painters such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko. Also on view: seven particularly moving oversized works from Picasso’s final period. May 26 through Sept. 30; museegranet-aixenprovence.fr.

GIVERNY
Eternal Spring
A founder and prominent member of Les Nabis, Maurice Denis is the subject of an upcoming exhibit at the Musée des Impres-sionnismes Giverny. A rare opportunity to view 80 seldom seen paintings and drawings by the prolific artist and acclaimed theoretician, Maurice Denis, l’Eternel Printemps examines the theme of spring in three sections: “The Awakening of Nature in Springtime”; “Christian Spring and Earthly Paradise”; and “The First Signs of Love and The Spring of Life.” Exquisite panels and screens confirm his considerable talents as a decorative painter. April 1 through July 15; mdig.fr.

GRENOBLE
Die Brücke
Founded in Dresden in 1905, Die Brücke sought to form a bridge between past and present. Eschewing all forms of academic art, the group—which played a major role in the development of Expressionism—embraced a common style characterized by vivid colors and emotional tension. The Musée de Grenoble’s Die Brücke 1905 – 1914: Aux origines de l’expressionnisme features a first-rate selection of paintings and works on paper on loan from Berlin’s Die Brücke Museum, including vibrant canvases by Kirchner, Nolde, Heckel, Schmidt-Rottluff and Pechstein. Through June 17; museedegrenoble.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, examining 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 on a stage on the third floor. Through July 15; mac-lyon.com.

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.

Visitors at the Pompidou-Metz’s “Bivouac” exhibition contemplate “Clouds” (2008), a room divider designed by the Bouroullec brothers. Photo: ©Tahon & Bouroullec 2011

METZ
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 (see feature story in Fall 2011 issue of France Magazine). Through July 30; centrepompidou-metz.fr.

1917
The Centre Pompidou-Metz presents a major exhibit on artistic creation during wartime. Focusing on a single, devastating year of WWI, 1917 includes works by major artists such as Duchamp and Brancusi as well as amateur artists coping with horrific events in the trenches. Destruction and reconstruction, both physical and psychological, are among the themes explored by the show, whose highlight is the stage curtain created by Picasso for the ballet “Parade.” May 26 through Sept. 24; centrepompidou-metz.fr.