A couple of must-see shows at the Grand Palais

The Grand Palais will have a hard time topping the accolades it won for last year's blockbuster Claude Monet exhibition, but this year's lineup looks just as promising. Two exhibitions in particular look especially interesting, and we'll be in Paris while they are both running.

The first is "Monumenta 2011", the latest chapter in a series that has evolved into unique venue for contemporary art in Paris. For a few weeks each year, the vast, iron-vaulted 19th century interior  of the Grand Palais is given over to the creative fancy of a prominent artist.  Last year's haunting installation by Christian Boltanski seemed like the culmination of a lifetime of thought.  This summer, Anish Kapoor takes the stage, an artist whose sense of scale and drama will surely live up to the challenge.

Meanwhile, the separate gallery space of the Grand Palais will be given over to "Odilon Redon: Prince of Dreams," which will feature 170 paintings, pastels, charcoals and drawings by this diverse and mysterious master of the Symbolist period. The works are arranged to emphasise the development of Redon’s style from the anguished period of the "Noirs" to the explosion of colour in his late works, as a gradual progression from shade to light.