Paris attractions: what to see and do in summer Artemisia at the Musée Maillol (www.museemaillol.com, until July 15) is a chance to discover the first great female painter in focusing for once on her work rather than her biography. Rather than a chronological display, the exhibition starts with Artemesia Gentelleschi at the height of her power with swaggering Baroque altarpieces and allegorical portraits, in a career that took her to Rome, Florence, Naples and even London. The Palais de Tokyo (www.palaisdetokyo.com) contemporary art space reopens this spring tripled in size, with 28 hours of non-stop art events, concerts and performances from 8pm on Thursday April 12 to midnight on Friday April 13, succeeded by the Triennale "Intense Proximité" (April 20 - August 26), an exploration of the diversity of current art in France in a global context. In the Grand Palais, Daniel Buren (www.monumenta.com, May 10 - June 21) takes on the challenge of transforming the colossal glass and steel Grand Nef for the fifth in the Monumenta series. My hotel pick: Le Maurice, an historic luxury hotel Al fresco entertainment The annual Fête de la Musique on June 21 is a great chance to enjoy free concerts of every imaginable genre all over town, most of them outdoors. The Bastille Day or Quatorze Juillet (July 14) celebrations, actually start on the evening of the 13th, with discos at fire stations, while the 14th, a public holiday, sees the military parade and fly past along the Champs-Elysées and fireworks in the evening. After that things truly start winding down for summer. On July 22, the final stage of the Tour de France ends with a sprint down the Champs-Elysées. From late July to late August, Parisians go to the beach - and for those who don't leave town, the beach comes to Paris, with Paris Plages (www.paris.fr, around July 20 - August 20) along the banks of the Seine and in front of Hôtel de Ville. My hotel pick: The Relais Christine, a beautiful period townhouse and a tranquil base for experiencing St-Germain Plenty of other outdoor events include Cinéma en Plein Air free outdoor film screenings on a giant screen at La Villette (www.villette.com, July 25 - August 26), outdoor classical and jazz concerts at the Parc Floral de Paris (www.paris.fr). Musical treats include outdoor opera (www.operaenpleinair.com) with Verdi's Aida touring châteaux in France, including halts at the Château de Vincennes (June 13-16), Fontainebleau (June 22, 23) and Les Invalides in Paris (September 7, 8, 11-15). If your tastes are more rock, Rock en Seine (www.rockenseine.com, August 24-26) has a big-name line-up including Noel Gallagher, Placebo, Green Day and Sigur Ros in the bucolic atmosphere of the Domaine de Saint-Cloud overlooking Paris.