Parmigianino, 1503–1540. Dessins du Louvre

du 17 Décembre 2015 au 15 Février 2016
http://www.louvre.fr

De Parme à Casalmaggiore, en passant par Rome et Bologne, l’exposition permet de suivre pas à pas l’évolution fiévreuse de l’une des plus belles mains du dessin italien.

Durant les premières décennies du XVIe siècle apparut, dans une Italie que bouleversaient troubles et déroutes, un nouveau style, qui devait bientôt  devenir un style européen : le maniérisme. L’on n’avait rien vu de tel depuis l’art gothique. D’une nation à l’autre, les mêmes formes raffinées et sophistiquées, les mêmes tours de force s’exerçaient, se répondaient… L’art de Michel-Ange, du  Corrège ou de Raphaël offrait un socle solide à cette nouvelle esthétique fragile, savante et virtuose, qui exigeait que l’on ait du style, que l’art assume  sans limite la haute idée qu’il se faisait de lui-même et que ce vertige d’idéal reste toujours indépassable !

A Brief History of the Future

from September 24, 2015 to January 4, 2016
http://www.louvre.fr/

This exhibition—one of the most anticipated at the Louvre in 2015—is based on the book by Jacques Attali of the same name (Une brève histoire de l’avenir), published in 2006. Pluridisciplinary, it brings a number of contemporary artists into a dialogue with noteworthy works from different eras, retracing in the present an account of the past conducive to a clearer view of the future.

The viewing itinerary is organized around four themes, each featuring works commissioned from contemporary artists: the ordering of the world, the great empires, the expansion of the world, and the polycentric world we live in today. Mark Manders, Tomás Saraceno, Wael Shawky, Camille Henrot, Isabelle Cornaro, Chéri Samba, and Ai Wei Wei have thus accepted the Louvre's invitation.

These artworks highlight the succession of historical moments of expansion and withdrawal, the building of exchanges between individuals or communities, and the creation of various means of communication to make them possible. Special focus is placed on interpreting the artworks and putting them into perspective, particularly through a discussion area created in the last room.

Making Sacred Images. Rome–Paris, 1580–1660

from April 2, 2015 to June 29, 2015
http://www.louvre.fr

In tandem with “Poussin and God,” this exhibition will highlight the iconophilia of papal Rome and the minor-key version of the French School, between 1580 and 1660.

The religious crisis of the 16th century brought with it a revival of the anti-image crusade of old. This iconophobia found its most unswerving expression among such radical Reformation thinkers as Andreas Carlstadt and Calvin. Beginning in the winter of 1522, it once again took the form of a virulent iconoclasm that would reach its height in France and the Netherlands during the 1560s.

At the end of the century, after a brief period of reaction, religious art underwent in Italy a recasting driven by a quest for purity and truthfulness. However, this was also the dawn of an unexpected renaissance, and the prelude to an unrivaled flowering of which this exhibition will highlight two opposite yet profoundly interconnected extremes: the triumphant iconophilia of papal Rome and the minor-key version of the French School. A contrast that raises yet again the issue of the meaning of the Christian love of images

Poussin and God

From April 2 to June 29, 2015
http://www.louvre.fr

To mark the 350th anniversary of the artist's death in 1665, this exhibition at the Musée du Louvre sets out to review possible Christian readings of Poussin's painting and one of his signature features: his merging of the antique and Christian notions of the sacred.

Nicolas Poussin is the absolute embodiment of the painter-philosopher, but the Christian aspect of his painting has been too often ignored and even called into question. A rethinking of the Poussin oeuvre in religious terms seems all the more necessary today in that recent studies have provided a convincing picture not only of his immediate entourage—markedly less raffish than has been generally recognized—but most of all of the originality of his religious painting as the source of a personal meditation on God.

The Etruscans and the Mediterranean. The City of Cerveteri

December 4, 2013 - March 10, 2014
http://www.louvre.fr/

This exhibition presents the Etruscan civilization through the history
of one of its greatest cities: Cerveteri (formerly Caere). Many people still have a romantic view of the Etruscan civilization as that of a mysterious people who lived in central Italy during the centuries of peace, and for whom death was, in the words of D. H. Lawrence, "a pleasant continuance of life". But this vision is far from the reality uncovered by the archaeological excavations of recent decades.

The exhibition introduces this great civilization—a confederation of autonomous city-states—with a focus on the city of Cerveteri, the ancient Caere. By comparing the results of research conducted in museums and on-site (in the necropolises, city and port), it is now possible to trace the development of this powerful, densely populated maritime city whose political, cultural and commercial history is linked to that of the great cities on the shores of the Mediterranean, from the Near East to North Africa, from Greece to southern France, not forgetting Rome.

The Springtime of the Renaissance: Sculpture and the Arts in Florence, 1400-60

www.louvre.fr
23rd September 2013 - 6th January 2014

It focuses on those 60 years that changed the whole history of art, scarred by the discovery of perspective and the adoption of realistic models derived from classical sculpture: the cornerstones of Reinassance.
The pieces featured at Palazzo Strozzi really sum up the revolutionary contents of the art produced in that period, and if you have studied history of art you'll be delighted to see many works of art you already know (if you're intimate with Florence museums, especially with Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, you probably have already seen them many times). This is why this exhibition is so special: it allows you to have a global view on the first Renaissance exposing the most important and beautiful products of it. 

De l’Allemagne. German Thought and Painting, from Friedrich to Beckmann, 1800-1939

28.03 – 24.06.2013

http://www.louvre.fr

This exhibition, comprising over two hundred works, offers a reflection on the main themes that structured German thinking from 1800 to 1939. It places artworks and their artists—including Caspar David Friedrich, Paul Klee, Philipp Otto Runge and Otto Dix—in the intellectual context of their time, and confronts them with the writings of great thinkers, chief among whom is Goethe.

German history from the late 18th century to the eve of World War II is marked by the difficulty of establishing political unity at a time when the concept of a Europe of nations was gaining hold. A multi-faith country characterized by geographical discontinuity, the instability of its borders and different or even antagonistic political and cultural contexts, Germany needed to establish the underlying unity of all Germans, from Bavaria to the Baltic, from the Rhineland to Prussia.

The concept of Kultur, inherited from Enlightenment thought, seemed most likely to constitute the breeding ground from which a modern German tradition could emerge. The Napoleonic occupation fostered awareness of this unity and provided the political background for the beginnings of Romanticism, at the start of our timeline—while at its end, the rise of Nazism highlighted the tragic dimension of this concept, without managing to destroy it. The exhibition analyzes the role of the fine arts, from Romanticism to New Objectivity, in this period of great artistic innovation that sought to invent a new German tradition.

Mexican Art at the Louvre. Masterpieces from the 17th and 18th centuries

07.03 – 05.06.2013

http://www.louvre.fr

Mexican art, an area in which the Louvre’s Hispanic collection is intended to expand, will be showcased at the museum this spring.

A selection of some ten of the finest works from this “sister” school will be exhibited among the Spanish paintings. Among others, the monumental “Zurbaranesque” work of José Juárez, the Baroque dynamism of Cristóbal Villalpando and the softness and delicacy of Rodríguez Juárez will introduce visitors to the many facets of New World art during this period and give them an understanding of its close yet independent relationship with Spanish art.

Although represented in national museums, Latin American art remains little known in France. The book that accompanies this exhibition, based on inventory work conducted by the Louvre and the French National Institute of Art History (the BAILA project), provides an overview of the major Latin American works in French museums, and explores the origins and evolution of this artistic school.