Black Art In Paris: A Soul-Stirring Movement Of Radicalized History And Intellectual Liberation

Black artists and hyper-conscious individuals have shaped the intrinsically artistic lives of Parisians for over a century. In the early 1920s, poet Langston Hughes arrived in the City of Love to pursue a more whole life outside of a segregated America and frequented the many jazz cafes that no longer exist in Paris today. Similar to James Baldwin’s experience (1948), the queer activist and writer arrived in France’s capital to escape the suffocating nature of raging racism in Harlem and undoubtedly shaped the community of African activists and intellectuals looking for brighter days. He would often frequent Cafe de Flore and the cafe Deux Magots in St.-Germain-des-Prés to write. Performer Josephine Baker left St. Louis, Missouri to pursue her lofty dreams of being a renowned dancer and singer in the grand French cabarets. In Paris, art is perceived as a visible mechanism of defiance and resistance. For these Black individualists, art-making was a spiritual practice, and what they so badly craved was community and a life with no restraints.

The influx of Black people who sought a horizon that felt unreachable at times looked towards Paris for creative liberation to feed themselves inspiration for their souls. Without the practice of art, these thinkers felt still and stillness was as dangerous as existing in the US for them in this time period of the mid-1900s. Many Black artists discovered themselves and found community in a foreign country that had its own complicated history with prejudice against the African diaspora. The global community of African Americans, Carribbeans, Afrolatinxs, Africans, and more cultivated and incubated asylum in Paris that led to the birth of a jazz, poetry, and visual arts movement. Contemporary artists like Grace Jones and, most recently, Kaytranada, who had a 2024 DJ set at the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur on the cultural, music holiday of Fete de la Musique have benefitted off of the long history of Black artists before them who bulldozed through dated norms and garnered success that would make their names recognizable across the world. 

When traveling in Paris, hundreds of artistic environments showcase the breadth of Black creativity. To be in Paris is to walk through a canvas of Black art that stretches far and wide without even realizing it. However, in more recent years, there has been an effort to preserve and prioritize these spaces for learning. Read more about how to experience the many inspiring destinations and exhibitions in Paris that gave a platform to Black artists yet to be discovered. Their major contributions across the African diaspora have forever altered the global nature of France’s most romanticized city.

Paris Noir at the Centre Pompidou

From March 19 to June 30, the “Paris Noir” exhibition at the Centre Pompidou is Paris’s most expansive Black art collection. The gallery features over 150 works from various artists across the African diaspora. On the top floor of the museum, the framework of the exhibition is hosted above most of the city’s skyline — giving the exhibition an elevated platform so those can feel how Black art truly has an ongoing, widespread influence on Paris’s art scene. The beauty of “Paris Noir” is its greater mission to decolonize France’s history through the perspective of Black art that was created in the last 50 years. Sourced by a team of hard-working researchers, the exhibition opens up a conversation between Transatlantic and Transnational individuals of African descent who shared similar takes on what it meant to be Black in Paris during complicated times. Afro-Brazilian visual artist Wilson Tiberio depicted Black workers breaking their chains in the lens of anti-colonial resistance. The Négritude movement is discussed with early works created by Gerard Sekoto showing how Black intellectuals, like himself, fought against racism to reclaim their history. Short films of James Baldwin highlight the poet speaking French in defiance of the city’s treatment towards Black Parisians. Other works include collages, metal-workings, sculptures, artifacts, photographs, abstract paintings, and more that identify with the transient nature of Black artists’ offerings who were deeply affected by their living environment. Many of these artists did cross paths, while so many others didn’t, and the curation of “Paris Noir” shares an invisible thread that connects all these artists with the purpose of their works. There is a very emotional motivation for these artists to share their perspectives to the world even long after their passing.

The Panthéon 

At the Panthéon, one of France’s most famous and underrated museums, Joséphine Baker’s tomb lies underneath the ground level of the museum. The talented dancer and musician known for her cabaret performances and time as a French spy, (who revoked her American citizenship) was a beloved idol in Paris. Here, you can see how Baker’s tomb honors her legacy with excavated earth carried from her homes in Paris, Monaco, and St. Louis. Her remains were left in Monaco according to her family’s wishes and Joséphine Baker was the first Black woman and American to be inducted into the French Panthéon and the ceremony brought in thousands of supporters in 2021 — illustrating the civil rights activist’s powerful story. She transitioned from being an on-stage dancer who was discriminated against to receiving France’s most prominent honor. Here, you get to also learn about Black military leaders who freed their home countries in the eyes of violence and war. 

“Le Paris Noir” Walking Tour

Led by Kevi Donat, who hails from Martinique and now resides in Paris, “Le Paris Noir” two-hour walking tour offers extensive insights into France’s most historic Black neighborhoods of Goutte d’Or and the origins of “Little Africa.” Located in the 18th Arrondissement, Donat will guide you through the streets that feature haircare locales, aromatic African cuisine, markets, and stores that have given the African population in Paris a place that feels closer to home. Donat points out former Jazz cafes and historic plaques where talented innovators like Joséphine Baker and Miles Davis are honored. He even discusses how jazz was brought to Paris by the Black Harlem Hellfighter soldiers, who fought in World War I for France against the United States to achieve more freedom in a desegregated city. The tour is a deep analysis of Black Parisian existence and how it is reflected in modern-day society while acknowledging that being Black in Paris is a very nuanced experience.

The Ray Charles Suite

At the sophisticated Royal Monceau hotel, on occasional nights live jazz music is hosted in the moody locale. Parisians and tourists sit side-by-side in a worldly-designed luxury stay that feels like a palace. The hotel’s jazz roots are deep and strong as Ray Charles used to frequent the prestigious space in 1928 with his partner. There, guests can feel Charles’s long standing impact as the hotel maintains its connection to the magic of live performance. The hotel’s Ray Charles suite pays tribute to the legendary artist with a massive Black grand piano and portraits where visitors can stay and experience the way of an iconic musician who found solace in one of Paris’s upper-echelon communities.