In the last two years the museums of Paris, just like everything and everyone else, had to deal with all sorts of changes. Exhibitions were set up when museums were closed. Many never happened and a few pushed through and were able to be seen by a few as lockdowns eased.
Now, the museums are slowly getting back on track and this winter some great new shows are opened and ready for visitors. Here are just a few with even more listed on my website or else this newsletter was going to be six pages.
We start with my beloved favorite, the Musée du Louvre,
In honor of the 200th anniversary of the Greek Revolution the Louvre is holding an amazing exhibit that includes painting, antiquities and statues spanning over 240 years. Paris Athènees Naissance de la Grèce Moderne 1675-1919 runs until February 7, 2022. As the first major exhibit after the lockdowns it was a welcome sight to see. The exhibit begins with pieces and books from the exploration by the two ambassadors appointed by Louis XIV, Comte de Choiseul-Gouffier and Antoine Galland Marquis de Nointel in the 17th century. The two men brought back manuscripts, antiquities and art and shared a part of the world few had seen at the time.
Greek sculptures are well known in the lexicon of art around the world and the exhibit focuses just as much on the art that tells the story of Greece as the beloved art we have been blessed with for centuries. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire the icon paintings remained popular for five more centuries and spanned artists from Angelos Akotanos to El Greco and Nikolaos Kantounis. These paintings are brilliantly displayed and glisten in the light.
Michael Damaskinos L’Adoration des Mages vers 1583
Two of my favorites were Michael Damaskinos L’Adoration des Mages vers 1583 and El Greco’s La Dormition de la Vierge vers 1566, which is very different from the El Greco’s we are accustomed too.
In 1821 the Greek War of Independence began and influenced the French Romantic painters. Delacroix, Ary Scheffer and Horace Vernet were inspired and painted some beautiful paintings bringing the emotions of the people to life. Ary Scheffer Les Femmes Souliotes depicts the women clutching to their children as they decided on mass suicide instead of giving into the Ottoman troops.
Eugène Delacroix La Grèce sur les ruines de Missolonghi 1826. Delacroix painted many of the stories of Lord Byron and illustrated the English poet's words. In 1824, Byron traveled to Missolonghi to take up arms in the fight for Greek independence but would die there when he became sick. It only led to him becoming an even larger influence on the Romantic painters of the time and the fascination with the plight of the Greek people. Delacroix followed up his Massacres of Scio in 1824 with this allegory of Greece standing on the ruins of Missolonghi, her hands open in sacrifice. So stunning.
Also on display is an interesting look into the excavation of Milo. The Vénus de Milo may be one of the most recognized images in the world but she wasn’t the only thing found. On Melos in April 1820, a farmer was out looking for some stones for his property and discovered the 2nd century BC white marble wonder. Venus traveled to Paris in 1821 and digging continued for eight more years. Many of the contents were sent around Europe and can be found today in the many museums. A helmet dating to the 3rd century BC , Tete de prêtre from the 1st century BC and Hermes de Milo discovered in 1827 from the 1st c BC. It was fascinating to see other pieces unearthed from the same site as Venus.
Also at the exhibit were copies of ancient Greek statues the Louvre had copied in their workshops as well as pieces from ancient structures. Colorful drawings of the restaurants of greek structures and the art that ancient Greece inspired the artists of the 19th and 20th century round out the exhibit.
Paris Athènees Naissance de la Grèce Moderne 1675-1919 runs until February 7, 2022
Other exhibits in the Musée du Louvre are the From Afar Traveling Materials that feature objets d’art and sculptures, many of which are in the permanent collection. Each year the Petite Galerie puts together an exhibit that focuses on education on a subject you may never have thought about before.
This year’s exhibit From Afar Traveling Materials gives you a new look at things we take for granted today like animals, materials like shells, ivory and silver and how precious they really are. I loved the stories of Clara the rhinoceros and the giraffe that fascinated France and the king. Artists captured them in everything from clocks to statues and gave citizens the first look at these exotic animals.
From Afar Traveling Materials will be on display until July 4, 2022 in the Richelieu wing
One of the most anticipated exhibits and one I couldn’t wait to see so was there on the first day was the Musée Marmottan Monet exhibit Julie Manet, an Impressionist Heritage. Julie Manet was the daughter of artists Berthe Morisot and Eugene Manet, brother of Edouard Manet. She was her mothers favorite subject and we can see her grow up in the paintings that hang in the Musée d’Orsay and around the world.
Eugène Manet died in 1892 and a few years later she lost her mother. Julie was just 16 and her “uncles'' stepped in to help watch over her. These included Monet, Renoir, Degas, Sisley and Stéphane Mallarmé that she wrote about in her diary that was later published.
The exhibit is amazing and includes portraits of Julie by her mother, Renoir and Manet but also a few paintings Julie did as well. After all with those artistic genes she was of course talented. Her mother had first met Edouard Manet in the Louvre as she was training as a copyist and many of the paintings that Manet and her father in law Henri Rouart had copied in the Grande Galerie are also on display which I was very excited about. When her father in law died, she inherited many of his pieces that now are found in the Louvre, Orsay and Marmottan Monet.
The Musée Marmottan Monet is on the edge of Paris and the Bois de Boulogne and houses the largest collection of Monet in the world including Impressio, Sunrise that gave the entire movement its name. It is pretty stunning to see it up close and in person.
The Julie Manet exhibit runs through March 20.
Not far from the Marmottan-Monet is the Fondation Louis Vuitton. The building designed by Frank Gehry is a piece of art in itself and inside is a collection of contemporary art as well as special exhibits that change twice a year.
The current exhibit Morozov, Icons of Modern Art continues the Fondations focus on sharing the outstanding collections that are rarely seen outside of their home museums. The Morozov brothers Mikhail and Ivan werehttps://www.fondationlouisvuitton.fr/en/events/icones-de-lart-moderne-la-collection-morozov part of the Morozov dynasty that had art collecting in their blood. The two brothers stepped up the collecting and quickly gathered some of the greatest French and Russian modern art.
Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Cézanne, van Gogh, Matisse and many more and the first time the entire collection has returned to French soil. It is a sight to behold. A few of the highlights include Picasso’s Les Deux Saltimbanques Toulouse-Lautrec’s Yvette Gilbert Sings, Linger, Longer, Loo and the one painting that stands out over all of them Vincent van Gogh’s The Prison Courtyard painted during his time at the asylum of Saint Remy. Where van Gogh paints himself into the prison yard walking in a circle with fellow prisoners. What we know of his life and seeing this painting is sad and will take your breath away.
Covering three levels and masterfully done, allow yourself a few hours to take it all in and not feel rushed. After that, be sure to explore the upper terraces and the view over the Bois de Boulogne. The exhibit ends February 22, 2022 and if you can’t make it there is an amazing coffee table book you can order from Amazon that is beautifully done.
At the Musée de Luxembourg is holding a photo exhibit of Vivien Maier, the nanny who took thousands of photos and left the negatives and undeveloped film in boxes in a storage unit. In 2007 they were discovered and auctioned off. The photos in black and white are amazing and a slice of time that is long gone. Her story is fascinating and a bit heartbreaking and was also featured in a 2013 documentary that brought her story to the masses. After walk through the gift shop where they are selling cans of Campbell’s tomato soup for almost 8€ and other american canned food for some odd reason. Also find me on a corner in Paris with a case of soup funding my champagne budget soon.
Signac, Collectionneur until January 13 Is the fantastic personal collection of the artist.
Enfen le Cinéma. Arts, images et spectacles en France 1833-1907 until January 16 enlightening exhibit of how much art and paintings inspired cinema.
The double exhibition held at both the Musée Picasso Paris and the Musée Rodin takes on the two artists in a really interesting way. Rodin died in 1917 and Picasso first arrived in Paris in 1900 and while Rodin was in the sunset of his lige their art crosses over each other many times. My favorite parts were when they had a piece by each artist that was of the same theme but with their very different takes on it. Like Le Baiser by Picasso and Rodin seen at the Rodin. La Nageuse by Picasso next to Etude pour Iris by Rodin at the Rodin. Those early years when Picasso was just a young artist he had visited a solo exhibition of Rodin held at Place de l’Alma in 1900. He jotted down a sketch of Rodin that October of 1900 and returned to Barcelona and made a few small sketches and sculptures inspired by Rodin.
The joint exhibit runs until January 2 but be sure to visit both museums whenever you are in Paris. They are both fantastic and coming on November 22nd tune into our new episode of Paris History Avec a Hemingway on La VIe Creative Podcast all about the Musée Rodin.
Musée de l’Orangerie David Hockney, A Year in Normandie until February 14, 2022
Chaïm Soutine/WIllem de Kooning, la peinture incarnée until January 10, 2022
Musée Jacquemart-André Boticelli, Artist and Designer until January 24, 2022
There are even more starting to be announced for the spring and I can’t wait to visit and share them with you.
And if you missed my live chat last week about all these exhibits and more you can watch it now on YouTube.