Immersive Show and Video Mapping: The Musée d'Orsay Celebrates 40 Years

Forty years already! The Musée d'Orsay is celebrating its milestone with a grand event, offering an immersive show in the museum’s nave on January 24 and 25, 2026.

Where were you back in 1986 when the Musée d’Orsay opened its doors in Paris? Fast forward forty years, and the iconic institution is inviting us all to celebrate its milestone with a special, one-of-a-kind event, scheduled for January 24 and 25, 2026.

The Orsay Museum, renowned for its impressive collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, is taking a different turn this time by exploring the world of science and biology. This immersive show is staged beneath the museum’s grand nave. Overhead, a captivating video mapping project animates the architecture, bringing to life entirely new creatures and organisms.

Titled “A Few Seconds of Eternity - Living Architectures”, this show visualizes scientific research into the building blocks of life. Gradually, we see these filaments extend, divide, and form increasingly intricate structures... It’s life growing and multiplying before our eyes. Like a carefully choreographed ballet, these tiny cells move, come together, and drift apart. These movements mirror what scientists observe under their microscopes. The microscopic world of life is thus brought out into the open on the Nef of the Orsay Museum, for everyone to see. The ballet of cells also adapts to interact with and highlight the architectural space, transforming this former train station into a living artwork.

The show is a captivating blend of science and art: as the images captured by researchers unfold, various artists have crafted a visual and auditory narrative to accompany them. The music of the video-mapping echoes the heartbeat of living cells. Actress Judith Chemla guides us through this extraordinary journey with her voice.

Through this unexpected immersive show, the Musée d'Orsay aims to highlight the deep connections between science and art: many renowned artists have drawn inspiration from nature, scientific discoveries, and their wonders to create masterpieces. On the occasion of its anniversary, the museum also asks itself a fundamental question: how can we continue to live and evolve without erasing the past? What does the future hold for us, and how do we get there?

Curious about this unusual show? Book your tickets now and come celebrate the anniversary of the Orsay Museum.