The start of autumn offers a wealth of must-see exhibitions across France. Artists from the past and present, both renowned and lesser-known, are on display: John Singer Sargent at the Musée d'Orsay, Agnès Thurnauer at the Musée Cognac-Jay, Gerhard Richter at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Alina Szapocznikow in Grenoble (southeastern France) and more. There are also new worlds to discover, such as sumo wrestling, in Nice.

'John Singer Sargent: The Paris Years (1874-1884)'

When John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) exhibited his Portrait of Madame X at the Salon de Paris in 1884, he expected a triumph. Virginie Gautreau, his anonymized model, was an American married to a French banker, well-known in Parisian high society. The pose was sensual, the black dress extremely low-cut, to the point that one strap slipped from her shoulder. Instead, the painting caused a scandal. The strap was painted back in place, but Sargent, shaken by the criticism, left Paris for London, where he would finally achieve the success he had hoped for. Today, the painting reigns in splendor in the American art collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) in New York. However, the painter's name and work remain largely unknown in France, where no solo exhibition has ever been dedicated to him. Yet it was in Paris that the young American trained and created some of his greatest masterpieces. Created in partnership with the Met, the exhibition, which brings together more than 90 works, will focus on these Paris years, in the crucible of the world's art capital at the time, among circles of artists, writers and enlightened patrons.

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