October 13, 2026

Words: Lisa Di Venuta

This Exhibit Celebrates The Art Of The Adorable

From cat memes to rococo cherubs, the lore of the adorable dates to antiquity, serving as a panacea through wars, natural disasters, and pandemics. Homing in on the ability of art to increase dopamine levels is “So Cute! The Art of Happiness,” a vast exhibition at the Louvre-Lens, the northern France outpost of the Musée du Louvre in Paris. The 300 works on view span some 20 centuries, encompassing such items as a circa 175 BC marble stele of Herakleides of Piraeus as a young boy (on loan from the main Louvre) and New York artist Will Cotton’s 2020 oil on linen of a unicorn walking through a forest of whirlwind lollipops. “When looking at museum collections,” explain cocurators Annabelle Ténèze, director of the Louvre-Lens, and Émilie Girard, director of the Musées de Strasbourg, which coproduced the exhibit, “one realises that tenderness is everywhere—flowers, animals, babies—yet paradoxically, it is a little-studied aspect.”

  • A stack of thin pancakes topped with colorful sprinkles on a white plate.
    Mireille Blanc’s oil on wood Crêpes smarties, 2024, is among 300 artworks in “So Cute! The Art of Happiness,” at the Louvre-Lens museum in France through January 18, 2027. Photography by Courtesy of Galerie Anne-Sarah Benichou.
  • A pink, cartoon-style figure with a round body, large head, and a stitched scar on its chest.
    Philippe Katerine’s 9-foot-tall resin and acrylic Mr Rose selfie, 2022. Photography by DR/Courtesy of Edie Editions and Renting Art.
  • A person with short pink hair wearing a green apron with a heart patch stands among many potted flowers beneath a glowing “FLEURISTE” sign.
    Pierre et Gilles’s inkjet print on painted canvas Le petit fleuriste (Victor Weinsanto), 2017. Photography by Courtesy of Pierre et Gilles and Templon.
  • A collection of small, assorted fabric plush shapes and charms arranged on a white wall to form the map of France.
    Faire des cartes de France, 2006, Annette Messager’s assemblage of plush toys, fabric scraps, yarn, and nails. Photography by Philippe Bernard/Courtesy of Lam.
  • A miniature figure sits on a wooden block, trailing a loose thread from a large pile of pink rose-patterned fabric.
    Liliana Porter’s mixed-media Untitled (The Weaver), 2018. Photography by François Doury/Courtesy of Mor Charpentier.
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