Blog | HPRG Red. Art and utopia in the land of Soviets at the Grand Palais until 1st July 2019 – Hotels Paris Rive Gauche Blog

Red. Art and utopia in the land of Soviets at the Grand Palais until 1st July 2019

The Grand Palais has just opened a new exhibition looking at Russian art from 1917 to 1953, with over 400 pieces on show – design, film, graphic arts, photography, architecture, paintings, sculptures – most of which have never been shown in France before…

The exhibition examines how communist society gave rise to certain specific forms of art, such as the avant-garde of the 1920s or the aesthetic dogma of the 1930s, accompanying the rise of socialism and contributing to the transformation of the lifestyle of the masses.

The presentation is split into two main parts – first “Art in life: productivism”, then on the floor above, “A dreamed life in art: towards socialist realism”. In all, over fifteen themes are explored, with nineteen artists represented.

Exposition Rouge. Art et utopie au pays des Soviets au Grand Palais jusqu'au 1er juillet 2019
© Collection du musée national des Beaux-Arts de Lettonie

A number of interesting activities are organised around the exhibition:

— workshops and different visits aimed at different people (including some in French sign language),

— conferences every Wednesday at 6.30pm on the theme of “Art & Communism”

— theatrical readings every Monday at 6.30pm, given by students of the Conservatoire national supérieur d’Art dramatique

— a selection of films, shown every Friday at midday…

Exposition Rouge. Art et utopie au pays des Soviets au Grand Palais jusqu'au 1er juillet 2019
© Adagp, Paris, 2019 / photo Musée Central des Forces Armées, Moscou

— a special night at the Balzac cinema (here) on 27th May at 8.30pm, with a cine-concert for the film The House on Trubnaya

— a design workshop / performance on 15th June at 5pm: 4 shades of red

— a special night of Russian songs for the fête de la musique on 21st June

— free entry for Museum Night

— the showing of the exhibition’s documentary ROUGE ! l’art au pays des Soviets (52 minutes) on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons (times vary). The documentary is also available (in English!) on DVD for 15€ at amazon.fr.

And of course there’s an official catalogue (288 pages, 250 illustrations, 45€ here at amazon.fr).

Exposition Rouge. Art et utopie au pays des Soviets au Grand Palais jusqu'au 1er juillet 2019

The exhibition Rouge. Art et utopie au pays des Soviets is at the Grand Palais (here) until 1st July 2019

Closed Tuesdays. Open Wednesday from 10am-10pm, and Thursday-Monday from 10am-8pm

Admission: 14 € / 10€

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