PARIS.- One of France’s longest-running showcases for abstract art will return this fall with a landmark edition. The Salon R閍lit閟 Nouvelles, founded in 1946 and devoted to the many forms of abstraction, will celebrate its 80th edition from November 5 to 8, 2026, at C閟ure, the cultural venue housed on the former Censier campus of the Universit Sorbonne-Nouvelle in Paris.
For four days, the Salon will bring together 120 artists, each presenting a single abstract work in painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing or photography. The format, simple and direct, reflects the spirit that has guided R閍lit閟 Nouvelles since its beginning: an artist-led gathering built around encounter, experimentation and the continuing vitality of abstraction.
This year’s edition also continues the Salon’s dialogue between art and science. Since 2014, R閍lit閟 Nouvelles has invited artist-researchers to create installations that open abstract art toward scientific inquiry, perception and the invisible structures of the world. For 2026, three projects will be presented at C閟ure.
The collective Percept-Lab — Laurent Karst and Filippo Fabbri, assisted by physicist Vincent Boudon — will present La v閞it n’a pas raison (Truth Is Not Right), a kinetic installation that uses rotating geometric forms to disturb the viewer’s perception of what is solid and what is hollow. The work takes inspiration from 蓆ienne-Jules Marey’s experiments on movement and perception, while also offering a contemporary reflection on truth in an age when contradiction often seems to pass as reality.
Jean-Marc Chomaz, artist, physicist and researcher at the 蒫ole Polytechnique, will present two installations. In The Compass Rose, created with Quentin Benelfoul, an ultrasonic meteorological anemometer is transformed into the center of an olfactory conversation. Air, breath and scent become the materials of an invisible landscape inspired by Ursula Le Guin’s book of the same name. In Coccolithus, created with Julie Everaert, Chomaz turns to the fragile world of nano-algae and ocean acidification, imagining synthetic exoskeletons that might one day help protect microscopic marine life threatened by climate change.
The Salon’s 80th edition will also continue a sustainable scenographic approach. For the fifth consecutive year, the exhibition design will be made with reused materials. Originally developed for the R閒ectoire des Cordeliers, the scenography has been reimagined for C閟ure’s 1,000-square-meter exhibition floor, where all participating artists will once again be gathered in one place.
R閍lit閟 Nouvelles was founded after the Second World War by art lover Alfredo Sid鑣 and artists including Sonia Delaunay, Auguste Herbin, F閘ix Del Marle, Jean Arp, Jean Gorin and Anton Pevsner. Its mission was to promote work then described as concrete art, non-figurative art or abstract art. Over the decades, the Salon became a major meeting ground for artists working across the many branches of abstraction, from geometric and concrete art to lyrical and non-figurative practices.
The 2026 edition will also include the Salon’s “small formats” space, a long-running feature in which each exhibiting artist may present a second, smaller work. These works are offered at a fixed price — €250 for two-dimensional pieces and €350 for three-dimensional works — with sales going entirely to the artists.
To mark the anniversary, R閍lit閟 Nouvelles will publish a book on the origins of the Salon. Before the first Salon was held in 1946, Robert and Sonia Delaunay had organized an exhibition titled “R閍lit閟 Nouvelles” at Galerie Charpentier in Paris in 1939. Using archival materials from the Archives of Paris, IMEC and the Kandinsky Library, artist Anne Rolland has reconstructed the rooms of that prewar exhibition in 3D. The publication, written by Erik Levesque, will revisit that early history and the foundations of the Salon.
The Salon also continues its commitment to supporting artists through its annual Critics’ Prize. Since 2008, art critics have visited the Salon in advance and selected artists for recognition through press coverage, support for artistic creation or donations of art materials. To date, 143 artists have benefited from the program.
The 80th Salon R閍lit閟 Nouvelles will be open from Thursday to Sunday, November 5 to 8, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is free. The exhibition takes place at C閟ure, 13 rue Santeuil, 75005 Paris, near the Censier-Daubenton metro station. The association’s gallery, Abstract Project, located at 5 rue des Immeubles Industriels in Paris, continues its year-round program devoted to abstract art.
