LaM, Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art

LaM, the Lille Métropole Musée d'art moderne, d'art contemporain et d'art brut, is a museum set in a sculpture park in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, on the eastern edge of the Lille metropolitan area. It shows modern art, contemporary art and art brut under one roof and suits art lovers, families who want gallery time plus a walk, and anyone curious about outsider art.

From the Masurel gift to France's largest art brut holding

The museum opened in 1983 as the Villeneuve-d'Ascq Museum of Modern Art, built by the architect Roland Simounet to house the modern art collection given by Geneviève and Jean Masurel. In 1999 it received a major gift of art brut from the association L'Aracine. To show it, Manuelle Gautrand designed an extension of about 2,700 square metres, and the museum reopened on 25 September 2010 under the name LaM. After a further renovation it reopened in February 2026.

Picasso, Modigliani and self-taught artists

The modern rooms include works by Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, Georges Braque and Fernand Léger. The contemporary rooms cover later movements. The art brut galleries hold France's largest public collection of work by self-taught creators working outside the art world, such as Augustin Lesage and Victor Simon, whose La toile judéo-chrétienne (1937) the museum bought in 2019.

Since the reopening the collection is presented in Obsession, a long-running display open from 20 February 2026 to 31 December 2027. Thirty-minute "flash tours" of the collection run over the same period.

Jessy Razafimandimby show and free entry days

An exhibition of the artist Jessy Razafimandimby runs from 13 June 2026 to 10 January 2027. Entry is free on the first Wednesday of each month under the "Mille morceaux" scheme (4 November and 2 December 2026), and in November 2026 visitors over 65 enter free on Friday afternoons. A symposium on women artists and the margins of creation takes place on 4 and 5 November 2026, and adult art workshops run through to June 2027.

Calder in the sculpture park, plus café and library

Outside, a large sculpture park sets works by Alexander Calder, Picasso and others among lawns and trees, close to the Lac du Héron. Inside are the Pigments café-restaurant, a shop and the Dominique Bozo library. Allow two to three hours including the park.