The Jardin de l'Hôtel Salé-Léonor Fini: now that’s a curious name! This little park sits behind the Picasso Paris museum in the Marais. It has a playground for kids, benches, flowers and greenery... everything you need to kick back and enjoy nature right in the heart of Paris.
This garden is named after surrealist artist Léonor Fini and after the Hôtel Salé, a striking townhouse that symbolized its owner's wealth in the 17th century. Today, Parisians mainly know it as... Musée Picasso Paris! Yes, the Hôtel Salé houses this essential museum. The garden backs onto the monument and is accessible from Rue des Coutures Saint-Gervais.
This Saturday, June 6, 2026, the garden itself becomes an open-air museum for the occasion of the new edition of the Nuit Blanche. Contemporary art takes over the space for an unconventional and poetic nocturnal event. Here’s what not to miss at the Hôtel Salé garden this Saturday.
Installation
It is true both that the world is what we see and that, yet, we must relearn to see it. Solène Ortoli’s installations house scenographies without people, inviting the spectator to traverse the subtle boundary between reality and fiction. These environments, most often set in natural spaces, force us to confront the mechanisms of our perception and the presence of illusory images that shape our relationship with the world.
The artist’s first work, Reflection of a Collector, created in 2015, presented in a fully recreated wild garden a white-wall structure that echoed the codes of a gallery space. Faux openings on the wall surfaces seemed to offer a view of lush vegetation reminiscent of paintings by Henri Rousseau. Visitors only realized, after exploring the scene more closely, that the composition rested on a system of mirrors reflecting the plants at their feet.
Following this initial experience, Solène Ortoli sought to push this dispositif further, capable of triggering a shift from a familiar space to an other one.
The installation Sky, the Sea invites viewers to experience an inverted scenario by entering through the backstage of the composition. The structure guides the gaze to an unexpected vantage point, that of a seascape in motion.
This archetypal image—simultaneously real and impossible—comes to life through the union of the elements that compose the setup, converging on the surface of an inclined mirror. Patches of parachute fabric in varying shades of blue cloak the upper part of the structure and reflect on the pool’s water, transforming into a sea with multiple gradients; the pale sand that lines the floor draws a horizon line and forms the sky.
By simply reinterpreting elements of nature, the work deconstructs the spectator’s perceptual habits, allowing a view of the moving shoreline from a fresh perspective. It becomes possible, in the heart of a garden, to rediscover the slope of a rocky coast, the horizon, and the gradual change of light. This distancing affords a reversal and a new potential for the gaze.
Text by Livia Parmantier.
1Maurice Merleau-Ponty, The Visible and the Invisible, Paris, Gallimard, 1964.
A sound creation is crafted by Robin Frolet, specially conceived for the project.
In partnership with: Esil events / Signarama / Nidaplast / Remake_reemploi / Jardiprotec / Ciné Loc / Leroy Merlin / Transparences Paris
White Night is far from over! The Marais is teeming with events and activities throughout this special evening—discover the program.
Nuit Blanche 2026: the lineup of installations and performances in Paris's Marais district
To soak up plenty of culture during this 25th Nuit Blanche, you don’t need to sprint all over Paris: the Marais district alone hosts a wealth of events and installations to explore this Saturday, June 6, 2026. Discover the program! [Read more]
Dates and Opening Time
On June 6, 2026
Location
Jardin de l'Hôtel Salé
101ter, rue des Coutures Saint-Gervais
75 Paris
Prices
Free
Official website
www.paris.fr
Nuit Blanche 2026: the lineup of installations and performances in Paris's Marais district
