Salon des Réalités Nouvelles

Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

The Salon des Réalités Nouvelles was founded in 1946 by Fredo Sidès, who served as chairman from 1946 to 1953. The first board included Jean Arp and Sonia Delaunay. Its early editions took place at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

The Salon was devoted exclusively to abstract art and extended the anti-academic lineage first articulated by the Indépendants. Often regarded as the more radical than Salon de Mai, it rapidly acquired international visibility through the publication of its cahiers, which articulated and disseminated the Salon’s theoretical agenda.The salon became a pivotal annual exhibition bringing together both established and emerging artists of postwar Paris.

The Cuban-born artist Carmen Herrera recalled first encountering the Réalités Nouvelles through their catalogue she found in a bookstall in 1948: “I felt what [was] gathered up [in] these pages was the type of art that my whole life I wanted to make.” She subsequently exhibited at the salon in 1949. Among the artists associated with the Salon was Ellsworth Kelly, who exhibited there in 1952 and 1953, marking an important moment during his time in Paris.

Location / Venue:
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (early editions);
Grand Palais, Avenue Winston-Churchill, Paris