Leandro Erlich at the Grand Palais: the exhibition that reshapes how we perceive reality — our photos

New season and second edition for the Grand Palais d'été ! Starting June 2, 2026, the iconic Parisian monument will turn its Nave into a vibrant contemporary stage, featuring dance, theatre, and live performances. The Grand Palais also unveils a retrospective devoted to Leandro Erlich.

After exhibitions in Tokyo, Miami, and Milan, the Argentine artist takes over galleries 9 and 10 of the Grand Palais, from June 2 to September 6, 2026, for a show that aims to blur our bearings and our perception.

Born in Argentina in 1973, Leandro Erlich now splits his time between Paris, Buenos Aires and Montevideo. A testament to his renown, his works have been shown in numerous countries around the world. Many are part of permanent museum and private collections, including the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Tate Modern in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. A true conceptual artist, Leandro Erlich relishes probing the foundations of our perception of reality and inviting viewers to actively participate in the construction of meaning.

From June 2 to September 6, 2026, the Grand Palais will for the first time showcase the work of Leandro Erlich. Marketed as the largest retrospective of the artist in Europe, the exhibition features 14 monumental works at the crossroads of installation, sculpture, and architecture.

The journey into the Argentine artist's dreamlike universe begins the moment you step in with "Port of Reflections". In a darkened room (watch your step), you feel as though you’re facing at least six boats seemingly floating on water. But it’s all an illusion. There’s no water, and there are only three boats in the space. The tone is set, and it quickly becomes clear that Leandro Erlich will mislead us and toy with our perception and certainties throughout the exhibition.

The route continues with the clouds of "The Cloud" and the almost voyeuristic glimpses of "The View", a video sculpture that lets you watch the lives of a dozen neighbors through the blinds of two windows. A little further on, Leandro Erlich goes so far as to turn the Grand Palais’ staircase into a fragment of communal life through a disconcerting sound installation.

On the upper floor, the Grand Palais invites visitors to (re)discover the creative history of Leandro Erlich, spanning 1994 to 2026, through 41 reinterpreted works. Here, there are no monumental installations, but models and photographs of his landmark urban installations, such as "Le Cabinet du Psy" or "Swimming Pool". The exhibition even unveils projects that never came to be, such as "Sablier" and "Lunas". In this section, you take more time to wander and analyze the substantial body of work the artist has been pursuing for over 30 years now.

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A little further on, Leandro Erlich unveils other monumental installations, always straddling illusion and reality. With "Elevator Maze," the artist confronts visitors with several elevators whose doors are open. But inside the cabins, it becomes clear that some of the mirrors that cover them are actually empty frames. The visitor is then trapped in a perceptual, trompe-l’œil game.

The final gallery of the retrospective is devoted to the most participatory works. Visitors of all ages can engage, even step inside the artwork itself. The illusion is flawless in Infinite Staircase, which gives the unmistakable impression of peering into a downward-looking staircase shaft.

The exhibition closes with the monumental installation "Bâtiment" created in 2004 for Nuit Blanche in Paris; a work where visitors can thus grasp the decorations and the façade of a building.

Singular, surprising, and unsettling, this retrospective devoted to Leandro Erlich won’t leave you indifferent. Get ready to blur the line between real and fake. "When the fake is mistaken for the real, the real itself also becomes fake," says the artist. Beyond these trompe-l'oeil tricks and a perfectly executed illusionist display, the Argentine artist invites us to question what we see or think we see. Through his works, Leandro Erlich calls on us to adopt a more attentive and critical eye. Younger visitors will also enjoy discovering certain pieces, especially those that involve the visitors directly.

If you don’t like having your bearings shaken, you’re likely to feel unsettled. For everyone else, an artful journey as fabulous as it is dreamlike awaits, blending reality and illusion. Simply let yourself be carried by the disarming talent of Leandro Erlich.

Save the date from June 2 to September 6, 2026 at the Grand Palais to discover this unprecedented retrospective dedicated to Leandro Erlich. Note that the Paris museum specifies that some works may require a waiting time.