Photo : Collection Simone Fattal Photo : François Fernandez © ADAGP, Paris, 2026
Simone Fattal. Cities at the bottom of a lake
Journey through a landscape of ancient myths and contemporary resilience in this deep dive into an artist's remarkable life and work. From evocative ceramic figures to vibrant, expressive paintings, discover an enchanting visual narrative that spans continents and decades.
Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (Paris 16th)
About
The Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris presents a comprehensive exhibition dedicated to Simone Fattal, highlighting fifty years of her artistic journey from October 2, 2026, to January 24, 2027. Featuring over one hundred works including paintings, ceramics, and collages, the showcase explores themes rooted in archaeology, philosophy, and mythology. This retrospective invites visitors to discover an artist whose influence spans international borders through a non-chronological selection of pieces. The museum is fully wheelchair accessible and provides tailored support for visitors with sensory or cognitive disabilities, ensuring an inclusive experience for everyone within the 16th arrondissement venue.
Bringing together around a hundred works, the exhibition retraces more than fifty years of her artistic journey, from her early landscape paintings to her ceramics and collages. Organized as a succession of ensembles and outside any chronology, the exhibition path invites visitors to explore the strong lines of a work with diverse aspects and in constant renewal.
Passionate about literature and archaeology, Simone Fattal first studied philosophy at the École des Lettres in Beirut, then at the Sorbonne, completing her training with courses at the École du Louvre.
At the end of the 1960s, it was in Beirut that she began painting, tirelessly depicting trees, the waterfront, and the mountains, pushing the limits of figuration. In 1972, she met Etel Adnan (1925-2021), a Lebanese poet and painter, with whom she shared nearly fifty years of life and complicity. In 1980, forced to leave Lebanon due to the civil war, Simone Fattal moved to California, to Sausalito, north of San Francisco Bay. She temporarily abandoned painting to devote herself fully to founding the publishing house The Post-Apollo Press (1982-2017), whose name was inspired by the Apollo space program, in which she saw the beginning of a new era in human history.
Starting in 1988, she began practicing ceramics after taking courses at the College of Marin and the San Francisco Art Institute. From the clay emerged archaic figures with anthropomorphic or animal lines that draw their inspiration from the mythological epics of the Mediterranean basin, mainly from Mesopotamia or ancient Greece, from the Epic of Gilgamesh to the Iliad and the Odyssey.
The 2010s marked the end of the editorial interlude of The Post-Apollo Press and a definitive return to Paris. Alongside sculpture and the production of collages with intimate and collective narratives, landscape painting reappeared. Executed with vivid strokes, colorful watercolors and black inks with plant motifs convey her vision of nature animated by a limitless vital force.
This first exhibition in a Parisian museum pays tribute to a major artist who is internationally recognized but has been little shown in France.
Our take on this event
This monographic exhibition offers an intimate look at the career of Simone Fattal, an internationally acclaimed artist whose work remains a rare sight in France. The collection brings together over a hundred pieces, tracing her evolution from early landscape paintings in Beirut to the archaic clay figures created during her time in California, inspired by Mediterranean epic poems like the Iliad and the Odyssey.
The exhibition is organized into thematic ensembles rather than a strict timeline, allowing visitors to engage with the diverse facets of her creative practice. After a period spent leading The Post-Apollo Press, Fattal returned to Paris in the 2010s, where she re-engaged with landscape painting and intimate collages. Her current work reflects a deep connection to nature and a constant dialogue between collective history and personal narrative.
Located at 11, avenue du Président Wilson, the museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00, with extended evening hours on Thursdays until 21:30. Entry fees range from 0 to 17 euros. The venue is committed to accessibility, offering facilities for visitors with visual, hearing, or cognitive impairments, as well as full wheelchair access throughout the building.
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