© Ilyas Goban – Traditional Moroccan music will be highlighted with the Gnawa group Black Koyo which will be in concert on June 6 at the municipal theater of Fontainebleau.
Organized by the National Institute of Art History and the Château de Fontainebleau, under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture, this 15e édition of art history festival promises to be exceptional. For three days, from Friday June 5 to Sunday June 7, the city of Fontainebleau will honor Morocco, the first African country invited. Fashionthe theme chosen this year, will also be celebrated.
Like every year, this festival offers a programming for all audiences : conferences, debates, workshops, presentations of works, exhibitions, shows, concerts, performances, cinema, free or guided tours and family activities, but also prize giving and even speaking competitions…
Fashion in all its aspects
© CNCS – The theme of this 15th edition will be fashion. All historical periods will be deciphered as here with the costumes created by Christian Lacroix.
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Strong of over 300 free events and open to all, the art history festival asserts itself as a privileged moment of meetings and of sharing between specialists and the public in the heritage and royal setting of the Château de Fontainebleau. This year, it is labeled “Mediterranean season 2026”.
Fashion will therefore be the theme of this 15th edition. It will be approached from all angles: forms, uses, images and discourse. The presence of fashion historians will help to shed light on this artistic object in its social, aesthetic and political aspects.
Photo exhibition at Fontainebleau-Avon station
Of the dress code of the Prehistory passing through Marie-Antoinette’s toilets to the contemporary wardrobe, all the periods will be deciphered, revealing the way in which clothing shapes the collective imagination as much as the history of representations.
Finally, festival-goers will be invited to discover a cultural journey in and around the Château de Fontainebleau. This will begin from the square in front of the Fontainebleau-Avon station with a photography exhibition by Moroccan artist M’hammed Kilito (visible until June 15) and will continue in the imperial city with the striking photos of Moroccan photographer Yoriyas. The festival thus confirms its ancrage territorial conjugué à sa dimension internationale.
Festival highlights
© NadeÌ€ge Le Lezec – The choreographic piece “Näss” by Fouad Boussouf will be performed on June 5 on the stage of the municipal theater.
- Inaugural conference “Material cultures, intangible cultures, the importance of places. Rooting memories today” by the architect, anthropologist and artist Salima Naji (June 7, 12h, municipal theatre).
- Conférence de Marc Jeanson About the Majorelle garden in Marrakech (June 7, 2 p.m., castle, column room).
- Conference “fashion and psychoanalysis” of Valérie Steelecurator of the fashion museum of the fashion institute of technology in New York (June 6, 5 p.m., castle, column room).
- Discussion with Aurélie Samuel, director of “art, culture and heritage†of Louis Vuitton around Japanese fashion and its influence on European creation (June 6, 2 p.m., castle, flower salon).
- Exhibition of costumes created by Christian Lacroix for the Théâtre national de l’Op©ra-Comique (from June 5 to November 2, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m., castle, throughout the tour).
- Pièce chorégraphique Näss créée par Fouad Boussouf (5 June, 6.30pm, thééâtre municipal).
- Gnawa group concert Black Koyo (6 June, 6.30pm, thééâtre municipal).
