Musée d’Orsay: this free light projection disappears tonight—what time can you see it?

Tonight, the enormous illuminated words projected onto the façade of the Musée d’Orsay will go dark for good. There are only a few hours left to admire this creation by an American artist—for free!

The Orsay Museum has something to say. And this time, it says it loud — really loud. Until Thursday, October 22, 2026, after nightfall, giant phrases scroll across its Seine-facing façade, turning the former railway station into a monumental white page. No coded message or disguised advertisement: this light projection, called ÉCLAIRÉ, is by Jenny Holzer, the American artist who has baked words into her medium.

And behind these oversized letters lies real substance. The artist has selected nearly 250 excerpts from the writings of 34 authors, drawn from the museum’s archives—especially correspondences between artists—but also from literary and political texts of the time. A chorus of voices from the past that resurfaces in a Parisian night.

Because that’s the whole point of this installation: art displayed in public spaces, for everyone to see. To decipher these words that rise in height, head to the banks of the Seine (on the Quai des Tuileries side), from where the museum invites you to admire the projection on its façade of the 7th arrondissement. The show is free, every evening from 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. Five evenings only to hear the stone speak!

This spotlight accompanies the opening of the exhibition "Jenny Holzer, I SAW", presented at the Orsay Museum from October 20, 2026 to February 21, 2027. From October 23, the projection will be removed from the facade, but its imagery will remain visible on an interior screen inside the museum and on its website.

I saw: Jenny Holzer’s luminous exhibition that makes words come alive at the Orsay Museum this fall
Words Take Over the Orsay Museum, Transforming the Space into a Luminous Stage. From October 20, 2026, to February 21, 2027, the exhibition "I Have Seen" by Jenny Holzer invites visitors to explore a dialogue between letters, political texts, and literary writings alongside the museum's iconic collections. Through projections, LED installations, and engravings, the exhibit immerses visitors in a captivating experience where past and present resonate anew, offering a fresh perspective. [Read more]