Summer in Monaco: major exhibitions you won’t want to miss
We help you find your way around the many exhibitions taking place throughout the summer in Monaco
From July to September 2025, the Principality will be home to several major exhibitions that promise to captivate art, history and fashion lovers.
Couleurs! Masterpieces from the Pompidou Centre
The Grimaldi Forum Monaco will present a modern history of colour from 8 July to 31 August 2025.
The exhibition explores the evolution of colour in 20th-century art through over a hundred works loaned from the Pompidou Centre’s collections. Didier Ottinger, Deputy Director of the Musée National d’Art Moderne, is managing the ambitious project, which includes paintings by some thirty major artists. From Sonia Delaunay to Jean-Michel Basquiat, by way of Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, Henri Matisse and Vassily Kandinsky, the exhibition retraces the chromatic revolutions of the last century.
William Chatelain’s scenography structures the visit around seven monochromatic spaces, creating a total immersion in the colourful world of each artist. His innovative approach is accompanied by musical creations by composer Roque Rivas and olfactory ambiences by Alexis Dadier for Fragonard. Marion Mailaender includes design pieces by Ron Arad, Jean Prouvé, Ettore Sottsass and Philippe Starck in installations that were specially designed for the event.
The exhibition retraces the great artistic breakthroughs of the 20th century through the prism of colour: the Fauvist explosion, Cubist research, geometric abstraction and conceptual art. Each movement reveals its own chromatic approach, from expressionist saturation to radical monochromes.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
From 8 July to 31 August 2025 at the Grimaldi Forum. Details and reservations are available on the Forum’s website.
Les Annés folles (The Roaring Twenties) of Coco Chanel
The Nouveau Musée National de Monaco explores Gabrielle Chanel’s work on the Côte d’Azur from 19 June to 5 October 2025 at the Villa Paloma.
The exhibition focuses on Chanel’s creations during the 1920s, a period when the couturier revolutionised women’s fashion in the special context of the French Riviera. Célia Bernasconi curated the exhibition, which features over two hundred items. The exhibition creates a dialogue between thirty models and accessories by Gabrielle Chanel and forty works by modern artists of the period.
The visit reveals the reciprocal influence between haute couture and the artistic avant-gardes of the Roaring Twenties. Kees Van Dongen, Pablo Picasso, Marie Laurencin, Natalia Goncharova, Sonia Delaunay and Jean Cocteau rub shoulders with Chanel’s textile creations. The contrast illustrates how Chanel drew inspiration from the visual arts innovations of her day to invent the “new woman”. Photographs by Man Ray, Dora Kallmus, Edward Steichen and Roger Schall document the creative effervescence.
The exhibition has three main themes: outdoor life and the rise of seaside leisure activities, the influence of the Ballets Russes and Slavic cultures, and the invention of the “Riviera style”. That third section looks at how Chanel adjusted her aesthetic codes to the Mediterranean climate and lifestyle. At the same time, contemporary artist Chloé Royer is presenting “Of Limbs and Other Things”, a collection of twenty pieces exploring the metamorphoses of the female body, a contemporary echo of Chanel’s innovations.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
From 19 June to 5 October 2025 at the Villa Paloma. Opening times: 11am-7pm in July and August. Prices: 6 euros / free for under-26s. Further information on +377 98.98.91.26.
Cactus
The Nouveau Musée National de Monaco is dedicating an exhibition to cacti from 6 July 2025 to 11 January 2026 at the Villa Sauber.
The new exhibition reveals how these plants have influenced art since the beginning of the 20th century. Marc Jeanson, botanist, and Laurent Le Bon, general heritage curator, are leading the project, which came about through a collaboration with the Yves Saint Laurent museum in Marrakech. The period between the two world wars was a key moment in the relationship between art and botany. European artists were discovering these plants with their unique geometric shapes, which were gradually making their way into bourgeois homes. Photographers, painters and designers used their characteristic silhouettes as inspiration for their creations.
The exhibition brings together a wide range of works: photographs by Brassaï taken in Monaco’s Exotic Garden in the 1930s, paintings by Domenico Gnoli, contemporary creations by Wolfgang Tillmans and digital drawings by David Hockney. The visit also illustrates how the decorative arts appropriated these patterns, from Louis Majorelle’s furniture to contemporary design objects. As well as the aesthetic aspect, the exhibition also looks at the contemporary symbolism of these plants. Signs of increasing aridity, they now represent major ecological challenges. Several artists such as Cristina de Middel and Ali Cherri are questioning their status as icons of borders and migration.
The Villa Sauber gardens round off the visit with a collection of living cacti, created especially for the event in partnership with the Jardin Exotique.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
From 6 July 2025 to 11 January 2026 at the Villa Sauber, 17 avenue Princesse Grace. Opening times: 11am-7pm in July and August. Prices: 6 euros / free for under-26s. Further information on +377 98.98.91.26.
Monaco and the Napoleons, intertwined destinies
From 11 July to 31 August 2025 at the Grimaldi Forum.
This major exhibition, organised under the patronage of Prince Albert II, reveals for the first time the historical relationship between the Grimaldi dynasty and the two Napoleonic empires. The exhibition includes prestigious objects, rare archives and items that have never before been shown to the public. Louis Ducruet is the ambassador for this exceptional exhibition. It combines history, art and heritage to shed light on these intertwined destinies, of which the general public is often unaware.
The organisers were assisted by the Palace Archives and the Fondation Napoléon, and by several private collectors. Their collaboration allows us to see previously unpublished accounts of the relationship between Monaco and the Napoleonic era. The exhibition also highlights the influence of that period on Monaco’s political and cultural development.
Art Week Monaco
The seventh edition of Monaco Art Week takes place from 7 to 12 July 2025.
Fifteen galleries, auction houses and art enthusiasts are joining forces to provide an artistic journey through several of the Principality’s most emblematic neighbourhoods. Princess Alexandra of Hanover is patron of this year’s show, which highlights the diversity of practices and eras. The visit, which includes exhibitions, lectures and meetings with artists, presents sculpture, painting and fine jewellery through works ranging from ancient to contemporary art.
The event features solo exhibitions by contemporary artists such as Annie Leibovitz presented by Hauser & Wirth, Eric Massholder at Kamil Art Gallery and Suska Bastian at collect|mc. Group exhibitions explore a variety of themes: The Monaco Masters Show brings together Chagall and Léger at Opera Gallery, Looking at Horizons examines contemporary landscape painting at Almine Rech, while Street Mood celebrates urban art at Teos Gallery Monte-Carlo. The major auction houses are also taking part, with Artcurial organising Monaco Auction Week, Christie’s celebrating its 40th anniversary in the Principality, and Sotheby’s unveiling pieces from a Monegasque collection.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
From 7 to 12 July 2025. Opening on 7 July from 5pm to 8pm. A circuit takes in the different participating venues. For more information, visit www.monaco-artweek.com.
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