Adé Bernard selected for the 123rd Salon d'Automne 2026 in Paris

French painter Adé Bernard has been selected for the 123rd Salon d'Automne, one of Paris's oldest contemporary art exhibitions. From 28 October to 1 November 2026, her mixed-media canvas Chaos hangs in the Salon's ephemeral pavilions on Place de la Concorde.

The selection was confirmed by the Bureau and the Board of the Société du Salon d'Automne. For collectors and galleries who follow contemporary French painting, the 2026 edition is a chance to see a new canvas by Adé in a setting that helped shape modern art.

A return to Paris's most avant-garde salon

This is not Adé Bernard's first time at the Salon. She showed here in 1987, when it was still held under the glass roof of the Grand Palais. Nearly four decades later she returns to the same institution, now installed on Place de la Concorde.

The Salon d'Automne was founded in 1903 by the architect Frantz Jourdain, with artists including Bonnard, Rouault, Vuillard, Vallotton and Henri Matisse, as an independent answer to the rigid academic salons of the day. In 1905 the room where Matisse, André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck hung their violently coloured canvases was nicknamed the cage aux fauves, the "cage of wild beasts". The name stuck to Fauvism and set off the first great scandal of twentieth-century painting.

In the decades that followed, the Salon showed Cézanne, Gauguin, Picasso, Duchamp-Villon, Rodin, Camille Claudel and Maillol, and gave a first stage to Fauvism, Cubism, Surrealism and abstraction. The French State recognised it as an institution of public utility in 1920, and it runs today under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture.

"Chaos": the work selected for 2026

The painting chosen for this edition is Chaos, an acrylic, oil and mixed-media work on canvas measuring 114 × 145 cm. It hangs in the Salon's "Synthèse" section, shown unframed as the Salon requires, so the raw edge of the canvas stays part of the image.

Adé describes the work through collision rather than composition. The two primary colours, blue and red, meet head-on: in her own words the red "is only artificial," while the white and the blue come "from the sky." The title borrows a line she keeps close, "No life without chaos." What is left is a canvas that will not settle, and she leaves the reading open: "À chacun de voir" - it is for each of us to see.

• Title: Chaos
• Medium: Acrylic, oil and mixed media on canvas
• Dimensions: 114 × 145 cm
• Salon section: Synthèse
• Price: 4,000 € · Available for acquisition

Adé Bernard: a Lille painter of layered figuration

Adé Bernard works in Lille, in northern France, around one patient question. "All my work is a search for the earlier subject," she says. "It appears through viewpoints that converge into a single prism." Her method is accumulation: torn and glued paper, charcoal, oil and raw pigment go down in layers until a figure surfaces - a couple, a samurai, a Buddha, a face - then half dissolves back into the material.

That work has travelled well beyond the studio. Two of Adé's paintings appear in Abdellatif Kechiche's Blue Is the Warmest Colour (La Vie d'Adèle), winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2013, a film on which she also acted as pictorial adviser. Her paintings have shown internationally, including at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in 2022. Canvases such as Trio rouge et bleu, Couple, Samouraï and Bouddha are figurative in impulse and abstract in texture, paintings you read slowly.

How to see the work in Paris

The Salon d'Automne 2026 sits on Place de la Concorde, near the Tuileries and the Champs-Élysées. Collectors, gallerists and anyone who follows contemporary painting can see Chaos in person across the five days.

• Exhibition: 28 October - 1 November 2026
• Private view (vernissage): 27 October 2026
• Venue: Ephemeral pavilions, Place de la Concorde, 75008 Paris
• Nearest métro: Concorde (lines 1, 8, 12) · Champs-Élysées-Clemenceau (lines 1, 13)
• Note: no parking on Place de la Concorde or the Champs-Élysées; public transport is recommended.

For acquisition enquiries, studio visits or gallery collaborations around Chaos and other available works, visit adebernard.com.

Frequently asked questions

When and where is the Salon d'Automne 2026 held?

The 123rd Salon d'Automne runs from 28 October to 1 November 2026, in the ephemeral pavilions on Place de la Concorde, 75008 Paris, with a private view on 27 October 2026.

Which work by Adé Bernard is exhibited?

Adé Bernard presents Chaos, an acrylic, oil and mixed-media painting on canvas measuring 114 × 145 cm, shown in the Salon's "Synthèse" section and available for acquisition at 4,000 €.

Who is Adé Bernard?

Adé Bernard is a French contemporary painter based in Lille. She works in oil, pigments and collage to build layered figurative images. Two of her paintings appear in Abdellatif Kechiche's Palme d'Or-winning film Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013), for which she served as pictorial adviser.

How can I acquire a painting by Adé Bernard?

Collectors and galleries can view available works and arrange studio visits or acquisitions through adebernard.com. Chaos can also be seen in person during the Salon d'Automne 2026 in Paris.