Georges de La Tour: The Exhibition Paris Residents Are Lining Up to See
When I went to book tickets for the new Georges de La Tour exhibition at the Musée Jacquemart-André last week, half the September dates were already sold out. This for a painter most people have never heard of, at a museum that doesn't even make most tourists' first (or second) Paris itinerary.
The line when I arrived? Mostly French being spoken. Mostly residents who knew exactly where they were going. This is what I love about the Jacquemart-André, it's one of those places you discover after you've been to Paris a few times, when you're ready for something beyond the Louvre crowds. A mini château tucked into Boulevard Haussmann that feels like stumbling into someone's absurdly elegant home. Because that's exactly what it is and was.
The Exhibition That Has Paris Talking
The Georges de La Tour show, running through January 25, 2026, is the first major retrospective of his work in France since 1997. Nearly three decades. They've assembled over 30 paintings from collections worldwide (I spotted labels from San Francisco's Fine Arts Museums among others), which represents about three-quarters of his entire authenticated output.
Here's what struck me walking through those five medium-sized rooms upstairs where they hold temporary exhibitions: eight paintings featuring Saint Peter. Eight. In a show this carefully curated, where every loan costs a fortune and takes years to negotiate, they devoted that much space to variations on Peter. The tears, the denial, the repentance. Clearly this was an obsession for La Tour, and the curators wanted us to see it.
The Painter Who Disappeared
Georges de La Tour (1593-1652) is one of those artists who almost vanished from history. A baker's son from Vic-sur-Seille who somehow became painter to King Louis XIII. Created some of the most sophisticated light effects in European art. Then... nothing. Complete obscurity for almost 300 years until 1915, when a German art historian identified two unsigned paintings as his work.
What he's known for, what this exhibition makes breathtakingly clear, is candlelight. Not painting by candlelight, but painting candlelight itself. That single flame that transforms everything it touches. In pieces like The Newborn and The Penitent Magdalene, light doesn't just illuminate the scene. It becomes the subject.
The exhibition smartly groups his night scenes together — The Dice Players, Job Mocked by His Wife — where you can see how he used artificial light to create entire worlds within the frame. These aren't just dark paintings with a candle stuck in them. They're meditations on what light reveals and what shadow protects.
The House That Steals the Show
But here's the thing about the Jacquemart-André: the permanent collection rivals any temporary exhibition. This was the home of Édouard André (Protestant banking heir) and his wife Nélie Jacquemart (Catholic portrait painter who he hired to paint him, then married). Together they built this mansion specifically to house their art collection. Not the other way around.
The house itself, built between 1869 and 1875, had innovations that still impress, a curved carriage ramp that eliminated traffic jams, walls that could disappear into the floor for parties, that dramatic double staircase under actual Tiepolo frescoes they had transported from Venice and installed in the ceiling.
What I always tell first-time visitors: if you're not seeing the temporary exhibition, invest in the audio guide. It transforms the experience from walking through pretty rooms to understanding how two people chose to live surrounded by this much beauty. If you're coming back for the temporary shows like I do, head straight upstairs first while you're fresh, then revisit the permanent collection like an old friend.
The Restaurant That's a Destination Itself
The museum's café, Le Nélie, sits in what was the Andrés' dining room, under that Tiepolo ceiling, surrounded by 18th-century tapestries. It's one of the most beautiful museum restaurants in Paris. No reservations taken, so go early or late. They're open 11:45am-5:30pm Monday-Friday, with weekend brunch 11am-2:30pm.
Making Your Visit Work
The museum just reopened in September 2024 after a year of restoration, and they've done it right… better lighting on that monumental staircase, the smoking room's burgundy curtains recreated from archive photos, new Friday night openings until 10pm during exhibitions.
Book tickets online. This is non-negotiable, especially for this La Tour show. The museum is at 158 Boulevard Haussmann (8th arrondissement), open daily 10am-6pm, Fridays until 10pm during exhibitions.
For this exhibition specifically, I'd budget at least 90 minutes - 45 for La Tour upstairs, another 45 for the permanent collection. The La Tour rooms aren't huge but the paintings demand close looking. That quality of light he captured, it takes time to really see it. But for me? I always feel pressed when I spend less than 3 hours here. I just like to sit and observe the rooms, spend time with the paintings and furniture, and breathe deeply the custom fragrance they diffuse into the space.
Why This Matters Now
In an age of infinite digital images, there's something radical about going to see 400-year-old paintings of candlelight. La Tour painted the marginal people of his time, blind musicians, peasant mothers, card sharks, and gave them the same luminous treatment royalty received. He found the sacred in the ordinary, which feels especially relevant now.
The Jacquemart-André, with its intimate rooms and natural light, shows these paintings exactly as they should be seen - up close, quietly, without crowds pressing behind you. It's the anti-Louvre experience, and for La Tour's contemplative canvases, that's exactly right.
Tomorrow I'll share how to follow La Tour's traces through the rest of Paris, because it turns out he lived at the Louvre itself for three years as the king's painter, and his works are scattered through the city in places you might not expect.
But today, just know this: if you can only see one exhibition in Paris this season, this might be the one. Not because it's the biggest or most famous, but because it offers something increasingly rare - the chance to stand quietly in front of paintings that make you reconsider what light actually does.
Sometimes the best Paris experiences are the ones most tourists miss entirely.
Essential Information:
Georges de La Tour Exhibition
Through January 25, 2026
Musée Jacquemart-André
158 Boulevard Haussmann, 75008
Daily 10am-6pm (Fridays until 10pm)
Book tickets online: musee-jacquemart-andre.com
Café Le Nélie: 11:45am-5:30pm (no reservations)
