The Grimaldi Forum Monaco has thrown open the doors to a vivid new world with Couleurs!, a striking summer exhibition that runs until 31st August. Orchestrated by Didier Ottinger, the renowned Deputy Director of the Centre Pompidou, this genre-defying show dives deep into the emotional and symbolic power of colour, drawing visitors into a visual journey that’s as intellectually sharp as it is visually intoxicating. Already, it’s being talked about as one of the Forum’s most daring and unforgettable ventures.
This is not just an exhibition; it’s an experience. For the first time, the Centre Pompidou has partnered with the Grimaldi Forum to bring over 100 modern and contemporary masterpieces to Monaco, grouped thematically by colour and enhanced by soundscapes and scents. Visitors embark on a sensory journey through seven monochromatic rooms – each one tuned not only to a palette but to an emotion, a memory, an idea.
As Didier Ottinger explained, “This is less a lecture on colour than an invitation to experience it. The show raises more questions than it answers: what does blue mean when it’s chosen by Matisse or Gontcharova? What does it mean to you? Colour resists explanation—it must be felt.”
The colours of meaning: how artists shaped emotion
Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon, Fernand Léger, Andy Warhol, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, Yves Klein, Robert Delaunay, Vassily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse… the masters like you’ve never seen them before. In Couleurs!, their works are not arranged chronologically or by movement, but by pigment itself: each artist brought together in a chromatic dialogue that reveals how colour can define emotion, provoke thought, or stir the soul.
Each hue is more than a pigment — it’s a statement. The exhibition opens with a kaleidoscopic prelude, before plunging into individual zones: Blue evokes both melancholy and serenity, as in Kandinsky’s Bleu de ciel, painted at the brink of war to portray peace in a world crumbling. Red roars with danger and passion, captured in Warhol’s Big Electric Chair, where political tension drips from the canvas.
Pink, often dismissed as frivolous, is redefined here as the most rebellious of colours. “From Rococo pleasure to feminist protest, pink is sensual and subversive,” said Ottinger. In Guston’s unsettling In Bed, the powdery blush of the room masks racial violence with deceptive sweetness.
Yellow plays a double role: imperial colour in China, a symbol of betrayal in the West. Baselitz’s golden Demoiselles d’Olmo II flips perspective and balance, making colour itself the protagonist. Meanwhile, the white of Lempicka’s La Communiante speaks of purity, but also of a world on the edge of collapse.
Black, in Dalí’s surrealist hallucinations, becomes the colour of dreams and oblivion. Green, so long mistrusted in modern art, finds redemption through Picasso’s luminous Portrait de jeune fille, a calm echo before chaos.
Each colour is paired with an immersive room, featuring a bespoke fragrance created by Alexis Dadier (Robertet) and sound compositions by Roque Rivas, turning every colour into an atmosphere.
This multisensory approach echoes the early 20th century dream of “synesthesia” pursued by artists like Kandinsky and Klee.
Where masterpieces and design collide
Beyond the paintings, Couleurs! introduces a new way of seeing art in daily life. French architect Marion Mailaender has recreated interior spaces where artworks by the likes of Jean Prouvé, Philippe Starck and Ettore Sottsass are integrated into domestic scenes. The message is clear: colour lives not only on canvas, but in the way we inhabit space.
And just as the Centre Pompidou’s facade transformed Paris with its primary-coloured pipes, the exhibition closes with a tribute to Renzo Piano’s vision—linking Pompidou’s bold architecture to his new role in shaping Monaco’s own Mareterra.
A cultural crescendo for Monaco’s summer
In the words of Grimaldi Forum Director Sylvie Biancheri: “This exhibition is a true adventure into the world of colour—through masterpieces, through scent, through sound. It invites every visitor, young and old, to see colour in an entirely new way.”
Couleurs! isn’t just a show to be seen—it’s one to be felt, to be remembered. For Monaco’s residents and summer visitors alike, this is the exhibition of the season, and a rare opportunity to experience the world of colour in full spectrum.
Practical information
Couleurs! runs from 8th July to 31st August 2025 at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco, located at 10 Avenue Princesse Grace. The exhibition is open daily from 10am to 8pm, with late openings until 10pm on Thursdays.
Tickets can be purchased online or at the venue. Reduced rates are available for students, seniors, and groups, and children under 18 enter free. A comprehensive exhibition catalogue is available in French and English for €42.
The Grimaldi Forum is accessible to visitors with reduced mobility and offers family-friendly workshops and educational tours throughout the summer. For more information, visit www.grimaldiforum.com.
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Main photo credit: Cassandra Tanti, Monaco Life
