Old Masters often used drawing as a preparatory tool , a necessary step towards a finished painting or sculpture. In the 20th century it came into its own as an art form. The Centre Pompidou’s Cabinet d’art graphique is home to some 35,000 drawings from around the world, most made in the last 125 years; with the Pompidou’s doors closed to the public for the next five years, the Grand Palais is displaying more than 300 drawings from this collection (16 December–15 March 2026). Its strongest suit is its sheer variety: from century-old sketchbook doodles to digital works, the show takes in brightly coloured collaged drawings by Matisse, Jean Dubuffet’s cartoonish renderings of subway commuters and a simple but vertiginous monochrome work by Barnett Newman that reveals the careful planning that underpinned his rigorous abstract paintings.
Find out more from the Grand Palais’s website.
Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary
