Île Seguin: This tiny island just outside Paris is about to become the city's newest cultural destination

Paris is hardly short of museums and is a real paradise for art lovers. Not only could you spend weeks hopping between its biggest hitters—namely the Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, and Musée de l'Orangerie—but the city also has an incredible collection of smaller museums and galleries that are less frequented by tourists, yet definitely deserve some love. If, like me, you have a particular soft spot for contemporary art, Gagosian and Perrotin are just two of the many galleries worth visiting in the city, and they're among my favorites to browse on a rainy Parisian day.

Although the city center has countless museums to visit, this autumn, one of the French capital's most exciting cultural openings is happening somewhere you might not immediately think to look: on a small island in the Seine just beyond the city limits.

Île Seguin sits at Boulogne-Billancourt, southwest of central Paris and around a 10-minute walk from the end of Métro line 9. Once synonymous with industry—Renault operated its enormous factory here for much of the 20th century—the island has been gradually reinventing itself as a cultural district. Now, the next major piece of the puzzle is about to be added.

On October 17, 2026, Large, a new contemporary art center dedicated primarily to the French art scene, will open its doors. The 1.25-acre building contains nearly 27,000 square feet of exhibition space spread across several levels, including a vast, pillar-free main gallery rising as high as 46 feet.

The building itself is reason enough to visit. Designed by Catalan studio RCR Arquitectes—winner of the 2017 Pritzker Architecture Prize—alongside French practice CALQ, it plays with light, scale, and views across the Seine. Visitors enter through a 4,000-square-foot atrium before traveling upwards through the building via corridors, monumental escalators, and galleries overlooking one another. Outside, terraces look towards the river and the hills of Meudon.

Large isn't intended to function solely as a museum, either. Around 40% of the building will be accessible without a ticket, with an amphitheater-like atrium designed for talks and performances, a bookshop, a children's art space, and Extra Large, a café with a panoramic terrace overlooking the Seine. Entry to exhibitions will also be free for visitors aged 26 and under, among several other groups.

Its inaugural exhibition, “Moteur Imaginaire (Imaginary Engine),” couldn't be more closely connected to the island's past. Curated by Cecilia Alemani, the Italian curator behind the 2022 Venice Biennale, it draws on Île Seguin's history as the home of Renault's factory and explores our relationship with machines, industry, and the automobile. The exhibition will bring together 120 works by 55 artists from 23 countries, including pieces by Jean Dubuffet, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, and Victor Vasarely, alongside 17 new commissions.

"The exhibition takes its inspiration from the symbolic legacy of the historic Renault factory on the Île Seguin, a site that has long been at the forefront of French industry. The selection of artists and works explores the complex relationship between humans (humanity) and the machines (artifacts) we create, with a particular focus on the automobile. The car here appears as a powerful symbol of innovation, progress, and freedom, whilst acting as a catalyst for technological change, environmental transformations, urban development, and new social identities," says Cecilia Alemani, the exhibition's curator.

Some of those works make particularly playful use of Renault's history. Bertrand Lavier will display a Renault Formula One car covered in his signature thick, painterly brushstrokes; Bianca Bondi will present a Renault 12 chassis transformed using salt, water, and vegetation; while Ghanaian artist Paa Joe and his son have created a hand-carved coffin inspired by the 1899 Renault Type B.

But Large is only part of what is happening here. The wider Pointe des Arts development covers more than 13 acres and is turning this end of Île Seguin into something approaching a cultural playground. La Seine Musicale already hosts concerts and performances, while the island is also home to an eight-screen Pathé cinema and Parc Gauthier Mougin, which is planned to feature more than 30 sculptures. Restaurants, cafés, and a forthcoming four-star hotel will complete the picture.

It's quite a transformation for an island once dominated by one of France's most famous factories. And with Large opening this October, there is suddenly a very good reason to ride line 9 all the way to the end.

“Moteur Imaginaire” runs at Large from October 17, 2026, to March 7, 2027. Large is open Wednesday to Sunday, 11 a.m.– 7 p.m., with late opening until 9 p.m. on Fridays. Full-price admission is 15 Euros (or around $16.80).