New year, new discoveries. Unfortunately, it had been several months since I was last able to bring you an article covering themes that are close to my heart: exhibitions and the museum world.
For this start of the season, I’m taking you to a few Parisian exhibitions, visiting the Musée du Luxembourg, as well as the Musée de la Marine, the Musée Cernuschi, and the Musée du Quai Branly, a place I mention quite regularly on the blog. Then, for a change of pace, we will jump over to the Gaîté Lyrique, and finally, we will wrap things up with my discovery of the Fondation Louis Vuitton.
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Fragonard: Amorous, Gallant, and Libertine
(by Cathy)
There are only a few days left to come and discover an exhibition between desire and pleasure at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris. I am talking about the romantic inspiration of the 18th-century French painter: Jean-Honoré Nicolas Fragonard. This is actually the first time the Musée du Luxembourg has exhibited works by Fragonard.
As the Goncourt brothers declared: “The 18th century is that of seduction and amorous intrigue.” For the time, these paintings are quite bold, libertine, and even naughty, with amorous inspiration featuring bodies and overt sensuality.
Throughout the exhibition, we also discover drawings and very explicit works. Amorous inspiration runs throughout the painter’s body of work (1732-1806).
I would like to conclude this article by saying that he was one of the main painters of the 18th century and that before indulging in erotic painting, he painted landscapes in his capacity as a history painter.
Table of Contents
Until January 24, 2016
Musée du Luxembourg
19 rue de Vaugirard 75006 Paris
Admission: full price 12 € / reduced 7.50 € / free for under-16s
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SEPIK – Arts of Papua New Guinea
(by Camille)
The SEPIK exhibition at the Quai Branly, which gathers a collection of 230 sculptures, is an opportunity to enter into the life and codes of a distant population. This population belongs to societies living since the first millennium BCE in the Sepik Valley, an immense marshland extending to the north of Papua New Guinea.
The exhibition path helps us gradually understand the complexity of these societies where every object is likely to be carved, engraved, or painted with animal or human figures or abstract motifs.
Therefore, a large number of objects of great beauty are on display: sculptures, hooks, mother-of-pearl oyster shell necklaces, slit drums, bamboo flutes, wickerwork headdresses, coconut cups, painted bark panels, over-modeled skulls, etc.
Whether they belong to daily life or appear during ceremonies, the objects are adorned with images or signs linked to nature and ancestral human or animal figures.
SEPIK, exhibition until January 31, 2016
Musée du quai Branly
37, quai Branly 75007 Paris
Opening hours: 11 am to 7 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday
11 am to 9 pm on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
Admission: full price 9 € / reduced price 7 € / free for under-18s, job seekers, and for everyone on the first Sunday of each month
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PARIS MUSIC CLUB
(by Camille)
Paris Music Club is an exhibition like few I have seen, but one that only the Gaîté Lyrique knows how to produce. All your senses will be engaged for this sensory and interactive exhibition featuring installations to play with, experiment with, and experience. Musical perception is amplified by the image via 360° projections, mapping, or virtual reality that make up the exhibition. We truly experience the work, or even create it ourselves.
The Parisian collective Scale has mastered the art of elevating live music through image and light (having worked with Carl Craig, Francesco Tristano, Moritz Von Oswald, or even Christine and the Queens…). Developed in collaboration with the Red Bull Music Academy, this exhibition lets you discover several immersive installations to contemplate or activate collectively, which will shake up your bearings and modify your perception.
My opinion: this exhibition is quite expensive considering the limited number of installations, but it is worth seeing regardless.
Paris Music Club
until January 31, 2016
La Gaîté Lyrique
3 bis rue Papin 75003 PARIS
Opening hours: from 6 pm to midnight on Thursday and Friday
from 7 pm to 7 pm on Saturday and Sunday
Admission: full price 7.5 € / reduced 5.5 €
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Seoul – Paris – Seoul
(by Melle Bon Plan)
This exhibition, presented at the Musée Cernuschi, a magnificent 19th-century private mansion located on the edge of Parc Monceau, is dedicated to contemporary Korean artists who have worked or are still working in France.
Attracted from the 1950s onwards by the cultural influence of Paris, they studied in the capital, integrated into French artistic circles, and, through their work, actively participated in the renewal of Korean painting as well as its dissemination in Europe.
The exhibition also takes place in the Parisian cultural landscape on the occasion of The France-Korea Year 2015-2016, organized by the Institut français.
Seoul – Paris – Seoul exhibition
until February 7, 2016
exhibition open Tuesday to Sunday inclusive, from 10 am to 6 pm
Musée Cernuschi
7 Avenue Velasquez, 75008 Paris
Admission: full price 8 € / reduced 6 € / free for under-18s
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In the Mesh of the Net (Dans les mailles du Filet)
(by Melle Bon Plan)
This exhibition traces 5 centuries of the history of the Great Fishery, particularly the distant cod fishery, in the waters of Newfoundland, Labrador, Iceland, and Greenland.
It tells in a moving way the story of these thousands of sailors who left every year for nearly 6 months of fishing in difficult and perilous conditions. It also tells the story of the wait of the wives and children left on dry land…
The end of the exhibition also poses the question of overfishing and its consequences on the future of the planet, following the significant disappearance of cod in the northwest Atlantic at the end of the 19th century. Finally, it offers elements of an answer on what responsible and sustainable fishing could look like.
Quick reminder: the Musée de la Marine is an establishment under the supervision of the Ministry of Defense (yes, really!) that has very beautiful collections and temporary exhibitions that are always very interesting. So if you have never visited it, this could be the opportunity!
The great tip: as part of the exhibition, from March 16 to 19, 2016, you can attend free screenings of old and contemporary cinematographic works, silent and sound, in black and white and in color, dealing with the “great fishery”.
In the Mesh of the Net
from October 7, 2015 – June 26, 2016
at the Musée Nationale de la Marine
Palais de Chaillot 75016 Paris
Admission: full price 10 € / reduced price 8 € / under-18s 5 € / free for job seekers
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The Fondation Louis Vuitton
(by Melle Bon Plan)
This place for discovering contemporary artistic creation is housed in the magnificent building that Frank Gehry erected on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne, in the Jardin d’Acclimatation.
The Fondation’s permanent collections are presented on 2 major axes: Music and Pop Art.
Quite personally, some works spoke to me and piqued my interest while I remained rather unresponsive to others. Not being particularly keen on or knowledgeable about the subject of contemporary art, I would say that the main attraction of this place, for me in any case, lies in its setting: Frank Gehry’s building.
It is a real pleasure to browse the collections while discovering this architectural ensemble, without forgetting the superb terraces that top the building and provide a stunning view of the surroundings.
The great tip: a team of mediators is at the disposal of visitors in the galleries to answer questions about the works and the architecture of the place. There are also free micro-tours accessible without booking and spontaneously.
The great idea: have breakfast (Carte Noire coffee, orange juice, and pastries) at the foundation’s restaurant “Le Franck”, with the small terrace option and its view of the Jardin d’Acclimatation.
Getting there: if you like to walk and the weather is not too bad, the trip from metro Sablons line 1 is not that long (10 to 15 minutes), but if walking scares you, know that there is also a shuttle (which costs 1 €) that leaves from Charles de Gaulle Etoile.
Fondation Louis Vuitton
8 Avenue du Mahatma Gandhi, 75116 Paris
Price: full price 14 € / reduced 10 € (under-26s) or 5 € (under-18s)
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Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun
If you missed the magnificent first French retrospective on Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun that just ended at the Grand Palais – Galeries Nationales (from September 23, 2015 to January 11, 2016), I advise you to catch up with this magnificent book on the subject.
It allows you to discover “Madame” Vigée-Lebrun, a talented artist with a meteoric rise in the European courts of the second 18th century. She actually became the official painter of Marie-Antoinette and was one of the great portraitists of her time.
Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun book by Haldane Macfall
190 pages – Eyrolles editions – 21.90 €
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article written by Cathy, Camille and Melle Bon Plan
