A shortlist of interesting places near Paris,

or a little further away

Reasonably close:

MacVal (45 minutes by metro+bus)

The museum of contemporary art of the Val-de-Marne department. The museum is vast, but has a limited permanent collection. When it has a good temporary exhibition, it is worth venturing out into the Paris suburbs (by metro+bus) and check out the new building implanted in a neighbourhood of uninspired architecture.

Unreasonably close:

Tate Modern (London, UK -- 2 hours 15 minutes by train)

The British cousin to the Centre Pompidou has cut up its permanent collection into more manageable pieces, and always has one or two outstanding (but less comprehensive) contemporary art exhibitions, as well as a usually extremely interesting installation in its huge turbine hall.

SMAK (Ghent, Belgium -- 1 hour 30 minutes by train)

The contemporary art museum of the city of Ghent has established itself as a frontrunner in contemporary art in Belgium and Europe as a whole. The inspiring enthousiasm and expertise of its founder Jan Hoet, was translated in impressive early acquisitions of masterpieces by Beuys, Borremans, Broodthaers and artists whose name does not start with B. When the Paul McCarthy show hit the municipal museum, they did not hesitate to break down walls to host the McCarthy sets of Hollywood proportions.

Practical tips: go to one of these galeries (or another one), located in the north of the Marais neighbourhood (e.g. near or in rue Vieille du Temple), and ask for a plan of the nearby galeries, which will also have the list of shows on display. That's handy since not all galeries exhibit all the time. In particular, when the FIAC is in town, then don't expect much in the galleries ..

Copyright 2006, by Jan Troost