Modern and Street Art in Paris in 3 Days

With the Centre Pompidou closed for a renovation that runs to the end of the decade, modern and contemporary art in Paris has moved, and the new map is more interesting than the old one. The great modern collection of the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris is free. The Palais de Tokyo next door is the most experimental art center in the city. Contemporary art has a spectacular new home in the Bourse de Commerce. And the streets of the 13th, the 20th and the canal have become one of the largest open-air galleries in Europe.

This route covers all of it in three days. Day 1 is the museum hill of Chaillot: the Musée d'Art Moderne with Matisse and Dufy, the Palais de Tokyo and Jean Nouvel's Musée du Quai Branly with its living wall. Day 2 is the 13th arrondissement, where the boulevard Vincent-Auriol is lined with building-sized murals and the Butte-aux-Cailles hides stencils on every corner, followed by an immersive digital show in a former foundry. Day 3 is Belleville and the canal, with their constantly changing walls, and the Pinault Collection under the dome of the Bourse de Commerce.

The arrival day is for a walk and a first look, not for galleries. The three days can go in any order: the Palais de Tokyo and the Bourse de Commerce close on Tuesdays, and the Musée d'Art Moderne and the Quai Branly on Mondays.

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This route at a glance

Tickets to book before you fly

The Musée d'Art Moderne's collection and all the street art are free. These three tickets cover the rest; the prices shown are where each one starts, per person.

Arrival evening: a first wall

Wherever you are staying, there is street art within a short walk. Paris is full of small works by the Space Invader, the mosaic aliens fixed high on building corners since the late 1990s; look up at street corners on your first evening and count how many you see.

If your hotel is in the east, walk to the Canal Saint-Martin, where the walls and shutters along the quai de Valmy change every few weeks.

• Invader mosaics are usually at the corners of buildings, two or three floors up.
• Stencils by Miss.Tic, who signed her poetic self-portraits with short texts, survive in the Marais and the Butte-aux-Cailles.
• Photographing street art is legal and part of the culture; just do not block doorways.

Day 1: The Musée d'Art Moderne, the Palais de Tokyo and the Quai Branly

The Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris occupies the east wing of the Palais de Tokyo, a 1930s building on the hill of Chaillot, and its permanent collection is free. It holds one of the best collections of twentieth-century art in Europe: Matisse's two versions of The Dance, painted for a single wall, Raoul Dufy's La Fée Électricité, a mural so large it fills a curved room of its own, and Picasso, Braque, Delaunay, Modigliani and Soulages. It closes on Mondays.

In the west wing, the Palais de Tokyo is the largest center for contemporary art in Europe, with no permanent collection and exhibitions that change constantly. It opens at noon and stays open late, until midnight on Thursdays, and closes on Tuesdays. Its raw concrete spaces and graffiti-covered basement are part of the experience.

Cross the river by the Passerelle Debilly to the Musée du Quai Branly, Jean Nouvel's museum of the arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. The facade on the quai is covered by Patrick Blanc's living wall, one of the first vertical gardens in the world, and the galleries inside wind through the collections like a path through a forest.

Stops in order

1. 10:00 · Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris: free permanent collection, closed Mondays
   11 Avenue du Président Wilson, 75116, Paris
2. 12:00 · Palais de Tokyo: contemporary art, opens at noon, closed Tuesdays
   Rue de la Manutention, 75116, Paris
3. 13:30 · Trocadéro Gardens: lunch with a view of the tower
   Paris
4. 15:00 · Musée du Quai Branly: museum and the living wall
   37 Quai Branly, 75007, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Find the Fée Électricité room first

Dufy's mural is in its own curved gallery and often empty in the morning. Its 250 panels tell the history of electricity from the Greeks to the 1930s; look for the scientists in the lower half.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: All three are indoors and close together; the walk across the Passerelle Debilly is five minutes.

Day 2: The murals of the 13th, the Butte-aux-Cailles and the Atelier des Lumières

The 13th arrondissement has turned its tower blocks into the tallest open-air gallery in Paris. Along the boulevard Vincent-Auriol and the streets around the Place d'Italie, invited artists from all over the world have painted murals that cover entire building facades, some more than fifty meters high. Walk the length of the boulevard under the overground stretch of metro line 6 and look up.

Climb the hill to the Butte-aux-Cailles, a village of cobbled lanes and small houses that feels nothing like the towers below. It was the home ground of Miss.Tic, the street artist whose stenciled women and short poems appeared on Paris walls from the 1980s, and many of her works are still visible. The bars and cafés of the rue de la Butte-aux-Cailles are good for lunch.

In the late afternoon, take the metro to the Atelier des Lumières in the 11th, a nineteenth-century foundry where digital shows dedicated to great painters are projected onto every surface with music. It is a modern way to look at art, and the program changes with the seasons. Book a slot and spend the evening in the bars of the nearby rue Oberkampf.

Stops in order

1. 10:00 · 13th Arrondissement murals: building-sized murals along the boulevard
   Boulevard Vincent Auriol, 75013, Paris
2. 11:30 · Bibliothèque nationale de France: the four book-shaped towers by the river
   Quai François Mauriac, 75013, Paris
3. 13:00 · Butte-aux-Cailles: Miss.Tic stencils, lunch
   Rue de la Butte-aux-Cailles, 75013, Paris
4. 17:00 · Atelier des Lumières: immersive show, about an hour
   38 Rue Saint-Maur, 75011, Paris
5. 19:00 · Rue Oberkampf: evening bars
   Rue Oberkampf, 75011, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Walk the boulevard on the south side

The best view of the big murals on the boulevard Vincent-Auriol is from the opposite pavement. Cross over and walk the south side; the overground metro frames each wall as you pass.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: The murals are best on a dry day; swap Day 2 with Day 1 if the forecast is wet, and keep the Atelier, which is indoors.

Day 3: Belleville, the canal walls and the Bourse de Commerce

The rue Dénoyez in Belleville is the most painted street in Paris. Its walls, shutters and even the pavement are repainted by street artists every few weeks, and on a weekday morning you will often see someone at work. Around it, the Belleville district is home to studios, small galleries and the Parc de Belleville, with the best view of the skyline from the east.

Walk down to the Canal Saint-Martin and follow it south. The walls along the quai de Valmy and the side streets are covered with paste-ups, stencils and murals, and the canal's iron footbridges and locks make a good backdrop. Have lunch in one of the cafés along the water.

In the afternoon, ride the metro to the Bourse de Commerce, the round former exchange where the Pinault Collection shows contemporary art inside a concrete cylinder by Tadao Ando, under a nineteenth-century painted dome. The exhibitions change, and the building is a work of art in itself. It closes on Tuesdays.

Stops in order

1. 10:00 · Rue Dénoyez: the most painted street in Paris
   Rue Dénoyez, 75020, Paris
2. 11:00 · Parc de Belleville: park and skyline view
   75020, Paris
3. 12:30 · Canal Saint-Martin: walls along the quai de Valmy, lunch
   Paris
4. 15:30 · Bourse de Commerce: Pinault Collection, closed Tuesdays
   2 Rue de Viarmes, 75001, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Go to the rue Dénoyez before 11:00

Artists paint early, before the crowds and the delivery vans arrive. A morning visit often means watching a new piece go up; by the afternoon the street is full of photographers.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: Street art is best in dry weather. In rain, go straight to the Bourse de Commerce and spend longer in the galleries.

Departure morning: one last stencil

On the last morning, walk the Marais with your eyes up. The streets around the rue Vieille-du-Temple and the rue des Rosiers have small works by Invader, Miss.Tic and many others among the old facades, and the area is close to the RER and the Gare du Nord.

Bookshops in the Marais and around the canal sell street-art books and prints by the artists you have seen.

• Prints and art books pack flat in a suitcase.
• The Marais is a short ride from the Gare du Nord and Châtelet.
• Allow plenty of time for an international flight.

Which day goes where

The three days can run in any order. Use this table to keep every sight off its closing day.

Where to see street art in Paris

Paris street art is spread across the east and south of the city, and each area has its own character. The table lists the main ones; all are free and visible from the street.

💡 Pro Tip

Download the Invader map before you go

Space Invader's mosaics are catalogued by fans on online maps. With one on your phone, every walk becomes a treasure hunt, and you will find dozens on this route alone.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

Modern art in Paris during the Pompidou works

• Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris: free permanent collection of twentieth-century art, Day 1.
• Palais de Tokyo: contemporary exhibitions, open late, Day 1.
• Bourse de Commerce: the Pinault Collection, Day 3.
• Musée Picasso: the largest public collection of Picasso, on the art lovers' route.
• Fondation Louis Vuitton: Frank Gehry's glass sails in the Bois de Boulogne, with major exhibitions.

The Pompidou's collection is being shown in other venues in France and abroad during the works, so check the program of your trip's dates if you are hoping to see a particular piece.

More 3-day routes

• Paris for art lovers: the Louvre, Orsay and Picasso.
• The Marais and east Paris: Belleville, the canal and Père Lachaise.
• Paris for photographers: walls, light and the best angles.
• Paris with teens: street art and rooftops for teenagers.
• Hidden Paris: passages, courtyards and the Catacombs.
• 2 days in Paris: a shorter city break.
• All the 3-day routes, by theme