THE SALON DU DESSIN HISTORY

1991

First Salon du dessin

The first Salon du dessin de Collection is held at the Hotel George V in Paris featuring seventeen exhibitors.

Alec Cobbe draws the poster.

1993

At the Grand Palais

For its third edition, the Salon du Dessin moves into the Grand Palais, gathering time 25 exhibitors.

1995

A brand new Salon du dessin

A new Salon du dessin is created at the Hotel Georges V in Paris, after a year of having been interrupted. It is founded by nine parisien drawing dealers who have exhibited in the first editions, and who still are the organisers of the Salon. François Lorenceau is the president.

For the first time, four out of the seventeen exhibitors taking place, are foreign.

The poster is designed by Pierre le Tan. Each year, the artist redraws the poster based on the same themes and original foundations, up until this day.

1996

The Salon du dessin becomes international

The Salon du Dessin becomes an international event, inviting German and Suiss galeries to participate. In addition to this, British and American galeries are present from the previous year.

1997

More exhibitors

The Salon du Dessin has 22 exhibitors participating.

1998

To the Salons Hoche

The Salon du Dessin establishes itself at the Salons Hoche in Paris. Hervé Aaron becomes the President, and so he remained until 2013.

The organisers of the Salon introduce, for the first time, visits in the departments of Prints and drawings of parisien museums, and conferences for the foreign curators.

The auctioneers organise, also for the first time, their big annual drawing sale at the same time as the Salon.

1999

The drawing week develops more

The ‘Drawing week’ develops and several institutions participate in the event ; visits are organised in the departments of prints and drawings for the french and foreign curators, in particular the dutch institute.

For the first time, two conferences given at the Salon du Dessin, are open to the public

2000

Paris, the capital of drawing

Thanks to the initiative of the Salon du Dessin, Paris becomes the Capital of Drawings.

A reputable drawing week is open to the public and amateurs in all fields. The museums of Paris are partners of the event, as well as the Bibliothèque Nationale and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

Several Parisien galeries organise their exhibition during this week.

2001

The Salon du dessin celebrates its 10 years

The Salon du Dessin celebrates its ten year anniversary. It is now clear that the event become a fundamental establishment to a market that has risen during this time.

2002

Poster of the salon

2003

Take on the drawings

In the spirit of supporting the restoration of ‘Clouet à Chantilly’, the Salon du Dessin exhibits three of its drawings.The visitors are invited to ‘adopt’ drawings from this prestigious institution, in order for restoration to be able to take place.

The Custodia Foundation organises its «round tables» for the first time, during the Semaine du Dessin.

2004

Le Palais de la Bourse

The Salon du Dessin establishes itself at the Palais de la Bourse, with 29 participants, of whom half come from abroad.

The Ve Semaine du Dessin, proposes conferences visits based on the theme 'One palace, some drawings'.

The Louvre museum participates in the Semaine du Dessin.

2005

Opening of two departments of prints and drawings

In the spirit of the Semaine du Dessin, openings of Departments of Prints and Drawings take place at the musée d’Orsay and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

2006

The 15th edition, features 30 exhibitors

The Salon du Dessin organises in the small auditorium in the Palais de la Bourse the international lectures of the Salon du Dessin, a symposium devoted to drawing, lead by Mr Pierre Rosenberg, from the Académie Francaise.

The talks are based on the theme 'The artist as a drawing collector, from Giorgio Vasari to the present day', under the direction of Mrs Catherine Monbeig-Goguel, director of research emeritus at the CNRS.

Our participating partners...

Some of the museums and partner institutions of the Semaine du Dessin organise visits and exhibition based on the theme of the symposium.

The Ecole nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts exhibits at the fair drawings by some of their young art students. Each day these students put on a performance.

The Salon, the Semaine du Dessin and the lectures, associated with big annual drawing sales become a must-see of the International art fairs calendar.

The Salon du dessin welcomes the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, exhibiting a series of 7 drawings of Charles de Wailly for the dressing room of Mademoiselle Contat.

The first volume of the International Lecture of the Salon du dessin is published, in collaboration with the Edition des 5 Continents. It gathers all the talks given in 2006.

2007

Poster of the fair

2008

The Salon du dessin welcomes 36 exhibitors

The 'Anonymous drawings stand' is presented to the Salon du dessin

The International Lectures of the Salon du dessin gather talks based on the theme of 'sculptors’ drawings', under the supervision of Mr Guilhem Scherf, chief curator at the Musée du Louvre

The second volume of the International Lecture is published.

2009

Contemporary art galleries

The Salon du dessin welcomes 3 contemporary art galleries among its 36 exhibitors.

The Salon presents a selection of drawing from the Florence & Daniel Guerlain collection, as well as the laureate of the Prix Guerlain for contemporary drawing awarded at the Salon Art-Paris.

The Drawing week celebrates its ten-year anniversary. 21 museums participate in the event.

The third volume of the International Lecture is published in collaboration with the Éditions de l’Echelle de Jacob.

2010

Events

The Prix Guerlain for contemporary drawings is awarded at the Salon du dessin.

Exceptional exhibition of drawings from the Alain Delon collection

11th edition of the Drawing week in Parisian museums

The fourth volume of the International Lecture is published.

2011

The Salon celebrates its twenty-year anniversary

Michal Batory designs the new poster.

The Prix Guerlain for contemporary drawings is awarded at the Salon du dessin.

12th edition of the Drawing week in Parisian museums.

The fifth volume of the International Lecture is published. The theme is 'Les Marques de Collections', under the supervision of Mr Peter Fuhring (Custodia Foundation).

2012

39 exhibitors from abroad

The Prix Guerlain for contemporary drawings is awarded at the Salon du dessin.

The Salon organises an exceptional exhibition of drawings from the Musée du Mont-de-Piété in Bergues.

13th edition of the Drawing week in Parisian museums

The sixth volume of the International Lecture is published under the supervision of Mr Peter Fuhring (Custodia Foundation).

2013

A tribute to Paul Cesar Helleu

The Prix Guerlain for contemporary drawings is awarded at the Salon du dessin.

The Salon organises an exceptional exhibition of drawings from the Musée Bonnat-Helleu (Musée des Beaux-arts de Bayonne)

8th International Lectures of the Salon du dessin based on the theme 'Dessiner pour graver, graver pour dessiner: le dessin dans la révolution de l’estampe'.

The seventh volume of the International Lecture is published under the supervision of Mr Dominique Cordellier (Musée du Louvre)

2014

A new chairman for the Salon

Louis de Bayser becomes Chairman of the Salon du dessin.

The Prix Guerlain for contemporary drawings is awarded at the Salon du dessin.

The Salon organises, as a tribute to the Jacques and Guy Thuillier donation, an exhibition of drawings from the prints and drawings department of the Musée des Beaux-arts de Nancy.

9th International Lectures based on the theme: 'Architectural drawings: a window into the architect’s inventiveness'.

The eighth volume of the International Lecture is published under the supervision of Mr Dominique Cordellier (Musée du Louvre).

2015

For the first time, the theme of the Rencontres Internationales is linked to the exhibition of the invited Institution 

Award ceremony for contemporary drawing from the Daniel and Florence Guerlain Foundation.

Exhibition of a selection of sheets on the theme of architecture from the Department of Prints and Photography of the National Library of France.

Xth International Meetings of the Drawing Fair, second part on the theme 'Architectural drawing in all its forms: Architectural drawing: document or monument?'

16th edition of the Drawing week in museums.

2016

The Salon du dessin celebrates its 25th anniversary

The Salon welcomes for the first time in its history a foreign museum: the prestigious Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, which presents an unprecedented selection of its most beautiful sheets.

XIth International Meetings of the Drawing Fair on the theme: 'From David to Delacroix. From painting to drawing'

Publication of an anniversary catalog retracing the highlights of the Show through a selection of almost 200 drawings.

2017

The Salon du dessin celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Guerlain Prize

The 10th anniversary of the Daniel and Florence Guerlain Contemporary Art Foundation's Drawing Prize is marked by an exceptional exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, from June 14 to September 11, 2017, of the 30 artists distinguished by the Drawing Prize since its creation.

Two museum exhibitions are offered this year at the show:

XIIth International Symposium on the theme: From David to Delacroix. From painting to drawing (II)

Finally, a highlight of the 2017 Drawing Week was the inauguration of the graphic arts cabinet at the Château de Chantilly.

2018

The Salon du dessin exposes Chaumet

The Salon presents an exceptional selection of drawings from the collections of the prestigious Chaumet Jewellery House around the theme of the tiara, Chaumet's emblem.

Unpublished exhibition of drawings from the Graphic Arts Department of the Nantes Museum of Art

XIIIth International Meeting of the Salon du dessin on the theme 'Performing arts, gesture and space'.

2019

2019 Guest: the musée Musée Carnavalet

The Salon presents the exhibition "Festivities in Paris" from the Collection of the Musée Carnavalet-Histoire de Paris.

XIVth International Meeting of the Salon du dessin on the theme 'Performing arts, gesture and space'.

2020

A 100 % Online edition

Due to the international health situation, the 2020 edition and its cultural programme were cancelled ten days before the exhibition opens.

The catalogue of the fair was exceptionally put online.

Catalogue de l'édition 2020 du Salon du dessin

2021

The Salon du dessin is held at the beginning of the summer and invites the museums of Marseille

Exceptional dates for the Salon du Dessin in 2021, again due to the health context: from 1 to 4 July 2021. This edition was accompanied by a digital version on the same dates

The museums of Marseille were invited to present the exhibition "Three centuries of drawing from the museums of Marseille: nature in all its states."

This exhibition offered the public a set of sheets from the graphic arts cabinet of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille but also from the Musée Grobet-Labadié and the Musée des Arts décoratifs de la Faïence et de la Mode. Read more

2022

The Musée du Grand Siècle and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs are the guests of the Salon du Dessin

The Musée du Grand Siècle showed a selection of drawings from the Rosenberg donation while the Musée des Arts Décoratifs presented the exhibition "Achille Duchêne and the gardens show", in connection with the XVth International Symposium, on the theme "On the art of representing and designing gardens on paper".

The 15th Contemporary Drawing Prize was awarded to the Russian artist Olga Chernysheva.

Catalogue Salon du dessin 2022

2023

The Salon du dessin organizes a charity dinner in support of the Curie Institute

31st edition of the Salon du dessin, 23rd Week of Drawing and 16th edition of the International Meetings of Drawing dedicated to the art of gardens and botany, under the scientific direction of Madame Monique Mosser.

Returning to its historical slot in the fourth week of March, the Salon du dessin welcomed 9 new exhibitors this year, invited the Musée de l'Armée to present a selection from its collection of drawings, and paid tribute to Ger Luijten, director of the Custodia Foundation.

The 16th Drawing Prize of the Daniel and Florence Guerlain Foundation, dedicated this year to outsider art, was awarded to Pascal Leyder.

Finally, the organizers of the Salon du dessin organized a charity dinner, with all proceeds going to the Curie Institute.

Affiche du Salon du dessin 2023