Since 2009

A Gallery Built on
Patience and Conviction

Atelier Lumière began as a single white room above a bookbindery on the Rue des Ateliers. Fifteen years later, the conviction that started it has not changed: art is a conversation, and every great work deserves to be heard.

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Interior view of the gallery's main hall with white walls and warm wooden floor
Our Story

From a White Room to a Home for Art

We opened our doors in 2009 with twelve paintings, a borrowed ladder, and a belief that a small gallery could think like a large one.

Our founder, Isabelle Fontaine, had spent a decade working in institutional museums before deciding that the most interesting art was being made just outside their walls. She wanted a space where a visitor could spend an hour with a single work — and where the artist's intent, not the market, set the tone of the conversation.

Today the gallery occupies the original building and two adjacent ones: the East Hall for major solo shows, the West Hall and Sculpture Court for surveys, and a ground floor dedicated to emerging voices. The residency studio sits above the East Hall, where six artists a year live and work among the collection.

2009Founded above a bookbindery with twelve paintings.
2013First international survey; the residency programme begins.
2018West Hall opens; the collection passes three hundred works.
2024New Ground becomes an annual showcase; residency welcomes its 100th artist.
What We Stand For

Three Principles,
Fifteen Years Running

01

Slow Looking

We curate fewer works and give them more room. Our exhibitions never exceed thirty pieces, and our labels tell you what to look for — not what to think.

02

Context First

Every work is documented, researched and presented with its process made visible. We publish the notes, the studies and the failures alongside the finished piece.

03

Artists at the Centre

Our commission structure is transparent, our loans are generous, and our doors are open. The artist's intent sets the tone — the market never does.

The Team

The People Behind the Walls

Portrait of gallery founder and director Isabelle Fontaine

Isabelle Fontaine

Founder & Director

Formerly of the Musée d'Art Moderne; the person who still opens the gallery every Tuesday morning.

Portrait of senior curator Dr. Henrik Vale

Dr. Henrik Vale

Senior Curator

Sculpture specialist, printmaker in his own right, and the author of our archive catalogues.

Portrait of programme curator Lena Moreau

Lena Moreau

Programme Curator

Runs New Ground and the residency selection; the fastest pair of eyes in contemporary painting.

Portrait of registrar and conservator Tomás Reyes

Tomás Reyes

Registrar & Conservator

Keeps every frame, hinge and pigment record immaculate — and the collection's memory intact.

The Residency

A Studio Above the Gallery

Six artists a year live and work in the studio above the East Hall — among the collection, in earshot of the visitors, and with the city at their feet.

Live & Work

A furnished studio and apartment for three months, steps from the collection. Artists work among the very works that shaped them.

Six Continents

Selection is international and blind: we review portfolios without names or countries, and the jury has never once agreed quickly.

Public Outcome

Every residency ends in a showing. Nothing is required of the artist except the work itself — the gallery carries the cost.