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According to the French government's regulations on the prevention and control of the new crown epidemic, museums and art galleries in France have gradually reopened since May 19. The Paper has learned that the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Musée d'Orsay, and the National Museum of Eugène de la Croix have all reopened. After 20 years of planning, the Former Stock Exchange in Paris- Pinault Private Museum has also opened recently.
In addition to its permanent exhibitions, the reopened Louvre Museum, "Body and Soul – From Donatello to Michelangelo" (22 October 2020 – 21 June 2021), which was interrupted due to the pandemic, has now been able to re-enter the public. "A Romantic Showdown: Delacroix's Heretics by Lord Byron", which opened in mid-December last year (16 December 2020 to 23 August 2021), will also be restored at the Eugène Delacroix National Museum. The Musée d'Orsay presents the exhibition "The Origin of the World, the Invention of Nature in the 19th Century", in collaboration with the National Museum of Natural History of France, which focuses on the milestones of science and art in the 19th century.
On the eve of the reopening of the Musée d'Orsay, museum staff make preparations.
After 20 years of planning, the Former Stock Exchange-Pinault Private Museum in Paris, just two blocks from the Louvre, finally opened in mid-to-late May. The construction of the museum has undergone many twists and turns, and was originally scheduled to open on January 23, but has been repeatedly postponed due to the epidemic.
Pino Private Museum
The exhibition "Body and Soul – From Donatello to Michelangelo" is co-organized by the Louvre Museum and the Castello Sforzesco de Milano Castle Museum. Centered around the three themes of "Anger and Elegance", "Emotion and Persuasiveness" and "From Dionysus to Apollo", the exhibition brings together more than 140 exhibits, systematically presenting the Italian sculpture art from the mid-15th century to the early 16th century, that is, the peak of the Renaissance. The exhibition was officially opened on October 22 last year, but within a few days of opening, it was temporarily closed to the public due to the French government's epidemic prevention and control requirements.
Poster of the exhibition "Body and Soul – From Donatello to Michelangelo"
Highlights include sculptures from the peak of the Renaissance, such as The Three Goddesses of Beauty, Bacchus and Ariane, Cupid, The Slave of Rebellion and The Dying Slave
The three goddesses of beauty, the goddess of plants and beauty, and the female companion of Apollo.
In ancient Greek mythology, the goddess Meihui was believed to be the handmaiden of Aphrodite, who represented love and beauty. Later poetry or traditional literature set the number of goddesses in three places and named them Euphrosine, Thalie and Aglaé respectively, representing femininity, elegance, beauty, and eternal youth. In artistic expression, they are usually presented in nude form.
From the Greco-Roman period to the Renaissance, the three goddesses have long become an enduring subject in the history of Western art. From the fifteenth century onwards, this theme has become a difficult challenge in the minds of artists: to perfectly interpret the unparalleled beauty of the three goddesses, to accurately grasp the proportions and human body structure, and to present the narrative and body language of the artwork
Bacchus et Ariane
Tullio Lombardo depicts two beautifully embossed busts, only to see Bacchus and Ariane's heads gently tilted toward each other, their bodies facing straight ahead, their distant, upward gazes as if to tell of an endless desire for the untouchable. The artist's portrayal of the smoothness and softness of the hair accentuates the brilliance of the face. The contrast between light and dark highlights the inner world of the characters. Such reliefs usually appeared in the residences of nobles, collectors and researchers.
Cupidon
The statue of Cupid was discovered in New York around 1995 and shows the image of a slender, slender teenager. Michelangelo draws inspiration from the shapes of teenagers, whose body lines are smooth. Fragments of the torso of the sculpture are preserved in the ancient Roman collection. Cupid's posture embodies an unbalanced athletic aesthetic, with her legs staggered and her arms raised. This instability gives the piece a breathtaking sense of dynamics
The Slave of Rebellion and the Dying Slave esclave rebelle et Esclave mourant
The two sculptures depict two very differently different figures of slaves. The slave on the left was writhing violently, his head held high, his muscles tense, trying to break free of the ropes that bound him; the slave on the right seemed to be in a coma or death. Life and death, defiance and despair, although the two sculptures are very different in image representation, the contrast between the naked smooth skin and the rough chisel marks of marble is the same.
The two statues were created by Michelangelo for the mausoleum of Pope Jules II. The original plan contained more than forty sculptures, but was eventually shelved due to insufficient financial resources. Yet the two unfinished marble statues remain an artistic treasure. Michelangelo gave them to his friend Roberto Strozzi, who gave them to King François I of France.
Poster of the exhibition "Symbol of the Artist"
The special exhibition "The Symbol of the Artist" explores the legendary figures and symbols of those who were once ordinary craftsmen or even unknown in antiquity, who became "heroic" during the Renaissance. The exhibition is divided into four sections that summarize more than 40 works from ancient Greece to the nineteenth century, including the eight antiquities departments of the Louvre.
Giuseppe's painting "The Square Salon of the Louvre" shows the view of the square lounge of the Louvre. In 1861, the Salon welcomed nearly 10 years of masterpieces of various eras and painters.
The Square Salon of the Louvre
During the Renaissance, artists used self-portraits to get rid of the status of mere painters. The more famous ones in the Louvre collection are Dürer's portrait "The Artist With the Thorns", known as the father of self-portraiture, and Rembrandt's portrait "The Artist by the Easel".
Self-portraits occupy an important place in all of Rembrandt's portraits, the number of which is arguably the first in the world, and the quality of his art continues to increase as he grows older.
In this painting the painter is in the position of three-quarters of the side of the face, half of the body, the face is full of brilliance, but also seems to have some tiredness. In fact, in 1660, after the painter lost his wife, his family fell in the middle of the road, and his career also failed, and this painting may be the most authentic portrayal of his time.
Rembrandt's Portrait of the Artist by the Easel
From the 17th century onwards, the Members of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture organized exhibitions of their works from 1737 to 1848, and because they were exhibited in the le salon of the Louvre, this regular exhibition was called the 'Salon'.
Charles X presents the prize to the artists exhibiting at the Louvre's Salon of 1824, by François Joseph Heim, and the scene records the moment when Charles X presented the prize to the sculptor Carterier. At that time, the salon on the first floor of the Louvre brought together many artists of the time, and this official art ceremony evoked the importance of the salon and the important role played by the state in art.
"Charles X Presents Awards to Artists Exhibiting at the Louvre Salon of 1824"
"A Romantic Showdown: Lord Byron's Heretics by Delacroix" exhibition poster
"A Romantic Showdown: Delacroix's Heretical by Lord Byron" at the National Museum of Eugène delacroix in France focuses on the artistic collision between the 19th-century painter Eugène Delacroix and the writer George Gordon Byron.
In May 1824, Eugène de la Croix first discovered Lord Byron's poem Giaour, which takes place in Turkish-ruled Greece. The content of the work is a story of love, betrayal and murder revenge. On this basis, Delacroix created several paintings and lithographs, focusing mainly on the battles between Giaour and Pacha.
Through numerous paintings and collections, the exhibition reveals a whole new side of the painter's creative process, while also showing how other artists interpret the story of "Infidel" in different fields... Until the 20th century.
(This article is based on the Louvre Museum, the art newspaper, etc.)
Editor-in-Charge: Ruoxi Chen