Subtitled ‘from dreams into light’, this new exhibition at the Marmottan Museum shows how European painters expressed the orient in their paitings, at a time when very few people could travel to see it themselves.

The presentation is split into seven sections:

— the historical figures of the movement, including Ingres and Delacroix

— the human figure, with “men close, women far off, the bedroom and mosque, never”

— landscapes, with increasing attention to structure and light, including The Color Grinder by Jean-Léon Gérôme, lent by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

— the fourth section concentrates on the progressive ‘geometrisation’ of the landscape,

— the fifth section shows how light was treated by the impressionists (including a painting by Renoir)

— and the last two sections take another look at people and landscapes as interpreted through the new, emerging styles of the era (with Kandisky and Klee).

In all, fifty paintings have been brougt together, with masterpieces lent by the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Orangerie, the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection in Madrid, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam…

Linked with the exhibition you can book a workshop for kids, and a catalogue is available (192 pages, 29€ here at amazon.fr).

The exhibition Oriental Visions – from dreams into light is at the Marmottan Museum (here) from 7th March – 21st July 2019

Open Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-6pm (9pm Thursdays)

Admission: 12€ / 8.5€ / free if you are under 7 years old

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