iMusée d'Art Moderne de Paris (MAM)16e arrondissement
Kerry James Marshall: The Histories
First exhibition in France devoted to American painter Kerry James Marshall, around seventy works including eight new paintings, exploring Black representation and art history.
More in Paris
One painting is a beauty salon four metres wide. School of Beauty, School of Culture (2012) is acrylic and glitter on unstretched canvas with metal eyelets, lent by the Birmingham Museum of Art.
Around seventy works run through eleven groups from the 1980s on, eight of them painted for Paris. There is a room on the Middle Passage, portraits of Black figures lost to the archives, such as Scipio Moorhead and Harriet Tubman, and paintings that echo Manet. Of the Royal Academy version, the Guardian's Adrian Searle wrote "biting, funny, astonishing, difficult". And four metres of salon is a bigger Saturday appointment than anything in the 16th.
Tickets are €17, €15 reduced, free under 18; Thursdays stay open until 21:30. Allow one and a half to two hours, and book ahead for Thursday evenings and weekends. Panels are in French and English. The themes of slavery and racial violence are addressed directly.
Editor's pick
School of Beauty, School of Culture is a beauty salon four metres wide, in acrylic and glitter. Reviewing the London showing, the Guardian's Adrian Searle called Marshall's work "biting, funny, astonishing, difficult". The rooms on slavery are the difficult part.
Look for
School of Beauty, School of Culture
A beauty salon painted 274 by 401 cm in acrylic and glitter, hanging as unstretched canvas with metal eyelets.
Many Mansions (1994)
A housing project reimagined as an immaculate garden, with lawns, flowers and elegantly dressed figures.
Our Town
A suburban scene of children playing, with references to public housing and yellow ribbons that suggest a parent away in the military.
Wake (2003)
An accumulative sculpture that gains new medallions at each venue where it is shown.
The Middle Passage room
In the London version Searle described drowned maps of Africa, fish, diving figures, and swimming pools beside ocean liners and toy boats.
Good for
- Evening Visits
- Nerding Out
- Out-Of-Town Guests
Skip if
You want a light afternoon: the themes of slavery and racial violence are addressed directly.
With kids
Under-18s are free. One listing warns the themes are hard and violent and may be unsuitable for young children.
Free in the same building
- La Danse (Henri Matisse)Henri Matisse's monumental dance murals, including La Danse de Paris, shown in the museum's dedicated Salle Matisse alongside the unfinished first version.
- La Fée Électricité (Raoul Dufy)Raoul Dufy's monumental 600 m2 mural, one of the largest paintings in the world, traces the history of electricity through 110 scientists and inventors; created for the 1937 Exposition.
Also at Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (MAM)
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Image credits
9
- Kerry James Marshall: The HistoriesCourtesy of Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (MAM)
- The Chamber of Echoes: The Blue of EverythingPhoto credit : Charles Villa
- Céleste Richard-Zimmermann: Not All Columns Have a Heart of StoneCéleste Richard Zimmermann, Martyre décorum, 2021 - Work supported by the Pays de la Loire Region. Photo: Gregory Valton © Adagp, Paris, 2026
- You and Your GangCourtesy of the artist. Photo credit: Sam Basu
- Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (MAM)Lustucrucaca / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Palais de TokyoGuilhem Vellut via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
- Palais Galliera - Musée de la Mode de ParisJoe deSousa / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
- Musée national des arts asiatiques - GuimetLionel Allorge / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Musée du quai Branly - Jacques ChiracJean-Pierre Dalbera, CC BY 2.0