As 2023 draws to a close in just a few hours, a new page is about to turn. If you’re feeling nostalgic and anxious about the way time flies, don’t panic: here are 31 reasons to look forward to 2024.
Goodbye 2023, hello 2024! The coming year is synonymous with intense events, store openings, anniversaries and large-scale business operations.
1) The Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games
From July 26 to August 11, and again from August 28 to September 8, the long-awaited Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games will take place. Athletics, badminton, fencing, judo, swimming, archery, sailing… This event, which will set the heart of France beating, is expected to attract nearly 16 million tourists and generate up to 10 billion euros in revenue for the Ile-de-France region alone. These moments of sharing around sporting disciplines and the greatest international athletes promise a dynamic and festive summer.
2) The arrival of Galeries Lafayette in India
In 2024, Galeries Lafayette has announced the opening of a new store in India. Located in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), the French group’s first store on the subcontinent will cover 8,000 square metres and will be aimed at a younger clientele. A year later, another showcase will open in New Delhi, with the aim of accelerating the growth of the famous French department store chain in a highly strategic market.
3) Golden Goose’s IPO
Fashion brand Golden Goose plans to raise around €1 billion via an IPO in Milan, according to three sources close to the matter quoted by Reuters. With sales growth of 30%, the brand is continuing its ascent and is set for a commercial revival. The operation promises to be the largest IPO on the European continent.
4) Additional dates for Coldplay world tour
Today’s biggest international pop group sets off on its third European tour, playing some 30 dates in Lyon (June 22 & 23), Athens, Rome, Vienna, Dublin, Bucharest, Munich and Helsinki.
Since their debut in 1996, Chris Martin’s British band has won over millions of fans, seduced as much by their heady melodies as by their live performances.
Coldplay won’t be this year’s record-holder: Foreigner, the iconic band led by Kelly Hansen, responsible for the 1980s hits “I Want To Know What Love Is” and “Waiting For A Girl Like You”, will be offering 70 dates! Another rock icon, Eric Clapton, will be looking back on his prolific career, both as a band (Yardbirds, Cream, Derek & The Dominos) and as a solo artist, with some 15 dates between the UK and France (4 dates in Paris, Lyon and Nîmes). Meanwhile, Rod Stewart (Da Ya Think I’m Sexy, Baby Jane, Maggie May…) will embark on his 37-date farewell tour.
5) Orientalists at the Atelier des Lumières
From February 9, 2024 to January 5, 2025, the Atelier des Lumières, in Paris’s 11th arrondissement, will unveil its new exhibition of projected works: Les Orientalistes. The work of major names in 19th-century painting, such as Delacroix, Vernet, Constant, Boulanger, Gérôme and Ingres, will be on display to introduce visitors to the Orient of their dreams. The scent of spices, the play of light and shadow, sensual harems, oriental sounds, wild animals, sumptuous palaces, colorful souks… It’s time to escape. The exhibition will extend the oriental experience begun with Egypt of the Pharaohs, from Khufu to Ramses (February 9, 2024 – January 5, 2025).
6) The hundredth anniversary of the Surrealist Manifesto
The year 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of Surrealism. This major artistic and philosophical movement of the 20th century was described in 1924 by André Breton in his famous “Manifesto of Surrealism”. Breaking away from the Dadaist movement, André Breton advocated “psychic automatism, by which we propose to express, either orally, in writing or in any other way, the real functioning of thought”. Put simply, it’s about drawing creativity from the unconscious, where dreams and chance take precedence over intellectual reflection. Many artists, including Max Ernst, Picasso, Dali and Magritte, explored this path.
7) Roy Lichtenstein: a centenary exhibition
From March 8 to July 14, 2024, the Albertina Museum in Vienna, Austria, will unveil an exhibition dedicated to the centenary of Roy Lichtenstein. The American artist, leader – like Andy Warhol – of the Pop Art movement of the 1950s, whose works filled with dramatic tension were inspired by advertising, the popular imagery of his time and comic strips, will be in the spotlight. This is an opportunity to rediscover his use of a printing technique – Ben Day – which consists of reproducing dots on paper.
8) The 77th Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Film Festival, which has been honoring international cinema on the Côte d’Azur since June 1939, will take place from May 14 to 25, 2024. This year’s president of the jury is actress and director Greta Gerwig, mastermind behind the blockbuster Barbie, which grossed $1.442 billion at the worldwide box office. This year’s edition will commemorate the anniversary of the presentation of Jacques Demy’s Les Parapluies de Cherbourg and Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas (Palme d’or 1984), as well as Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (Palme d’or 1994). For festival-goers, it’s a chance to enjoy the reopening of the legendary Palm Beach, transformed into a luxury tourist hub on a scale never seen before in the Mediterranean.
9) 250 years since the birth of Caspar David Friedrich
Germany will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of the 19th-century Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich with festivals in several German cities. This artistic movement, born in Goethe’s homeland, focuses on feelings such as solitude and nostalgia. Until April 1, 2024, Hamburg’s Kunsthalle is devoting a retrospective to the artist behind the masterpiece “The Traveler Contemplating a Sea of Clouds” (1818), featuring over 60 paintings and around 100 drawings.
10) Waystar Royco at auction!
As the fourth and final season of the satirical and politically incorrect series Successions drew to a close last spring, Heritage auction house Screen Bid will be auctioning off over 200 authentic props, merchandising items from the fictional Waystar Royco company – at the heart of the succession war between the four offspring of media mogul Logan Roy (loosely based on Rupert Murdoch) – and outfits seen in what remains one of the most successful HBO series of all time. An opportunity to get your hands on key elements of this Shakespearean tragedy, including some of the dresses and suits worn by Quiet Luxury ambassadors Shiv Roy and Kendall Roy. In 2023, the latter’s penthouse on New York’s Upper East Side was put up for sale for $29 million. Fans of The Crown will also be able to bid for accessories and outfits (450 in all) at the London auction house Bonhams in February.
11) 6th edition of the VivaTech trade show
Earlier than usual due to the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, VivaTech Paris will be held from May 22 to 25, 2024 at Porte de Versailles. This new edition will once again welcome players from the world of technology and startups around conferences, presentations and exchanges of ideas. In 2023, the tech event of the year attracted no fewer than 150,000 visitors.
12) The 66th Grammy Awards ceremony
On February 4, 2024, the 66th Grammy Awards ceremony will honor the year’s musical artists, songs and albums. Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, SZA and Jon Batiste are among the nominees.
13) Les Misérables returns to Paris
In 1978, three Frenchmen – Claude-Michel Schönberg (music) and Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel (original French lyrics) – set out to achieve the impossible: transform Victor Hugo’s 1862 literary monument Les Misérables into a musical. Initially in the form of a concept album, the project led to the creation of a real show at the Palais des Sports under the direction of the late Robert Hossein. But it was in 1985, thanks to an English version with lyricist Herbert Kretzmer and producer David Mackintosh (Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Oliver Twist…) that the show opened on Broadway. Since then, the musical has held the longevity record. A true phenomenon around the world (45 countries, 22 languages), the show has never enjoyed a lasting triumph in France.
From November 22, 2024 to December 31, 2024, it will be possible to revisit this humanist show in its original French version, partly rewritten by Alain Boublil. This is an opportunity to listen again to the sublime and moving “J’avais rêvé” (I Dreamed a Dream), successively performed by Rose Laurens (1985) and Fabienne Thibeault (1991).
14) Watches and Wonders 2024
From April 9 to 15, 2024, Watches and Wonders will be opening the doors of its Geneva show, which this year will bring together 55 watchmaking houses including Rolex, Cartier, Patek Philippe, IWC Schaffhausen and TAG Heuer. The biggest event in the world of timepieces will be an opportunity to appreciate the brands’ new products and discover the industry’s future challenges.
15) 60th anniversary of Franco-Chinese relations
January 27, 1964 laid the foundations for diplomatic relations between France and China. France was the first Western power to establish diplomatic relations at embassy level with New China. To mark this event, numerous popular festivals and public celebrations are planned throughout 2024. These events are as much cultural and scientific as they are academic, to enable the populations of both nations to get to know each other better.
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