Beyond the Walls

Lille Grand Palais naturally fulfills the mission it has set itself: to be the standard-bearer for Lille as a destination.

17 years after its creation, the fair has become an eagerly awaited event. It now attracts an ever-growing community of collectors and contemporary art enthusiasts. Lille Art Up! enriches the visitor experience by orchestrating a Beyond the Walls exhibition. It also puts the spotlight on the abundant offerings of the region’s museums.

In 2025, 5 museums from the Lille metropolitan area and the Hauts-de-France region will be joining us. The Donation Kijno, Le Musée de Gravelines, La Manufacture, La Sécu and Le Fresnoy will be offering special tours of their temporary and permanent exhibitions. All this continues to contribute to Lille’s reputation as a European capital of culture, recognized since 2004.

Discover the Beyond the Walls itinerary:

Kijno Sundays

Ladislas Kijno (1921-2012), an internationally-renowned painter and child of Noeux-les-Mines, donated 60 works of art to his homeland. For him, ‘It’s not enough to give people a roof over their heads and bread to eat, you have to put Gauguin on their plates and Rimbaud in their glasses’.

An explorer seeking to unravel the mysteries of the world, Kijno denounced the failings of humanity and celebrated the great figures who had inspired him. His commitment is reflected in his works, in which he uses innovative techniques such as coulures, crumpled paper and graffiti. His influence is such that he is considered the spiritual father of French street art.

At the Donation Kijno, his artistic and activist legacy is revealed through tours, lectures and shows.

Since 2011, the Donation Kijno has been calling on artists from all disciplines to highlight the painter’s canvases. Audiences are invited to attend original creations that are both playful and profound, defending the correspondence between the arts.

During the ‘Kijno Sundays’, organised several times a year, storytellers, visual artists, musicians, actors, painters and dancers put on original shows based on the artist’s paintings.

Dubrunfaut & Cabos

from March 08 to April 19, 2025

Nicolas Cabos, photographer and screen printer, and Sylvain Dubrunfaut, painter, attempt to answer this question about our relationship with others. By questioning the invisible distance between people, they explore the sometimes minute gaps of misunderstanding that can lead to emptiness.

This dialogue between them is also a look at youth, a theme that runs through both artists’ work. This search for depth is told through changes of focus, off-center settings and heterogeneous touches of color, all characteristic of their work.

The result is a sensitive mosaic of the intimate.