ARTS
WEEK

Guided visit of the exhibition “Rêve d’Egypte” (Dream of Egypt) by Madame Bénédicte Garnier, Curator of the exhibition

On your tour, you will discover more than 400 objects, all restored for the occasion, a mix of Auguste Rodin’s personal art collection and his own sculptures and drawings, archives and photographs  to contextualize his “friends to the end,” as the artist liked to call the antiques that he cherished.

It also evokes the resonance of Egyptian art in the work of Rodin, seen through his experimentation with representing the human body, the simplification of forms, fragments and monumentality — as well as the Monument à Balzac (1898) of which he said, “The Balzac statue is France’s Sphinx.”

Guided visit of the exhibition Fernande Olivier et Pablo Picasso dans l’intimité du Bateau-Lavoir (Fernande Olivier and Pablo Picasso in the Privacy of the Bateau-Lavoir) by Madame Saskia Ooms, Responsable de la Conservation.

Discover this exhibition, the first dedicated to a woman who has been forgotten by history, although she witnessed from the inside this important period: that of Bohemian Montmartre, and the beginnings of Modern Art.

Guided visit of the Meudon studio by Madame Aude Chevalier, Attachée de Conservation des Sculptures.

In particular, the tour will begin in the Villa des Brillants where Rodin spent the last 20 years of his life.

Visit to the new “Furniture” and “Metal” restoration workshops at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs during which Madame Catherine Didelot and Monsieur Benoît Jenne, both Conservateurs-Restaurateurs at the museum, will show you the most beautiful pieces undergoing restoration at present.

Guided visit of the exhibition The Duc d’Aumale and Chantilly. 19th Century Photographs & Presentation by Mathieu Deldicque, Directeur du Musée Condé of rediscovered portraits of the Duc and the Duchesse d’Aumale by Winterhalter

– Cabinet d’Arts Graphiques of the Musée Condé: Guided visit of the exhibition Le duc d’Aumale et Chantilly. Photographies du XIXe siècle (The Duc d’Aumale and Chantilly. 19th Century Photographs), by its Commissaire, Nicole Garnier, Conservateur Général Honoraire du Patrimoine.

Heir to the Montmorency and the Condé families, at the age of eight, Henri d’Orléans, Duc d’Aumale (1822-1897), inherited the Chantilly estate. Like Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the Duc d’Aumale became interested in photography at its invention in 1839 and as of 1848, posed for the cameras of the best photographers of the period, including his fellow-enthusiast and friend, Vicomte Vigier. Before having his Château de Chantilly, mutilated during the French Revolution,  reconstructed in 1875 by the architect Daumet, he commissioned the Auvergne photographer Claudius Couton to do full photographic survey of the site. After its reconstruction in 1885, he entrusted Alphonse Chalot, who had spent his childhood in Chantilly, with the task of taking photos of the château and its grounds. His interest in the burgeoning art of photography caused him to constitute a large collection of photographs of Chantilly before and after its reconstruction.  

– Presentation by Mathieu Deldicque, Directeur du Musée Condé of rediscovered portraits of the Duc and the Duchesse d’Aumale by Winterhalter  

During the last step of the process of inventorying and documenting the possessions of the State which takes place every ten years, the Château de Versailles uncovered a Portrait du Duc d’Aumale painted by Winterhalter in 1843. The celebrations of the bicentenary of the birth of the prince (1822-2022) led the Château de Versailles to propose that Chantilly  serve as the repository for this never-before-published masterpiece. Concurrently, the Musée National du Château de Compiègne, whose Portrait de la Duchesse d’Aumale—also painted by Winterhalter in 1844—was no longer on display to the public, agreed to renounce its status as the repository of the painting (also in the collections of Versailles) in favor of the Musée Condé. Thanks to the exceptional generosity of the Amis du Musée Condé who financed the restoration of the two works in the studios of the C2RMF at Versailles, the princely couple has finally been reunited, in the presence of the public, at the Château de Chantilly.

Guided visit by Madame Audrey Gay-Mazuel (Conservateur du Patrimoine).

Begun as early as 1889, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs has one of the earliest collections of Art Nouveau items of all French museums. Reopened last July, the entirely rethought rooms devoted to Art Nouveau now reveal to the public some 450 works, of which nearly half have come out of its reserves.

Along with the great names like Gallé, Majorelle and Guimard, figure pioneers of Art Nouveau like Georges de Feure and Henri Rapin whose interiors have now been reconstituted.

Stained glass, wallpapers, ceramic, glass, enamels, silver and furniture—all reveal the radical renewal in the decorative arts at the turn of the century. The visit continues with the spectacular Galerie 1900, vestige of the Exposition Universelle, and its theme of Art Nouveau treasures at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

Moderated by Guy Boyer, editorial director of Connaissance des Arts, this discussion will focus on the current challenges facing galleries. 

It will be held in the conference room of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (MAD) 111 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris

Free admission upon reservation online, via the museum ticketing service (link below) or on site the same day, subject to availability.
Duration 1h30

Issues related to the antique art market, such as the provenance of objects or the use of ivory in restoration, will be addressed by Anisabelle Berès and Anthony Meyer. 

The competition between galleries and auctions, the relationship between galleries and museums, the deployment of galleries in the suburbs or abroad, the future of fairs and shows and the slowing down of the art market are among the main themes addressed by Marion Papillon and Benoît Sapiro. This will be a discussion and not an ex cathedra presentation to address the current situation of the art market and galleries in France.

Conference organized with the Syndicat national des Antiquaires and the Comité professionnel des galeries d’art.
With Anisabelle Berès and Anthony Meyer, Marion Papillon and Benoît Sapiro.

At the Auditorium of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (MAD)

Recreated interiors have not been limited to the opera and cinema, or museums with wax figures. They have also been used to explain lifestyles during a given period, in castles and monuments, and to illustrate a history of forms in museums, relying on the notion of styles through a range of objects.

ln private interiors, people have sought to harmonise settings, sometimes including contemporary objects, or recreating the spirit of the past more precisely. Such reconstitutions have been used in recent exhibitions, even in France where museums have long been reticent about the practice of creating period rooms. 

This study day, which takes advantage of the physical proxi­mity between Fine Arts Paris & La Biennale with the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, will examine these reconstitutions from different points of view, bringing into play collecting and museum practices, material culture, intellectual discourse, and social habitus. 

This meeting has been organized by Olivier Bonfait and Bénédicte Gady underthe aegis of the Comité Français d’Histoire de l’Art (CFHAl in partnership with Fine Art Paris & La Biennale and the MAD. 

Learn more about the program

Guided visit of La Manufacture de Porcelaine de Sèvres by Apolline Cade, Chargée du Développement des Publics de Sèvres.

The visit to the Manufacture is an opportunity to discover the secrets of fabrication and decoration of the prestigious Sèvres porcelain. The artists-craftsmen will illustrate the breadth of their exceptional skill in demonstrations.

Guided visit by Mme Menehould de Bazelaire, Responsable de la Collection Privée Emile Hermès.

Throughout his life, this entrepreneur and fervent art lover assembled a singular collection of objects of art and the applied arts, paintings and books, a veritable memoire devoted to horses and travel, crossing latitudes and periods of history.

This cabinet of curiosities is a celebration of the hands of the craftsmen and artists at the very center of the creative process. Drawings, prints, and objects evoke the atmosphere of the workshops, the area where the subtle mixing of art and know-how gives life to the imaginary.

If Monsieur Hermès’s collection renders homage to the time when carriage and horse were king, it is also the reflection of an enterprise that finds its continuing source of inspiration in them.

Participate in a one-and-a-half hour voyage discovering the astonishing works in the exhibition “Formes vivantes”!

The aim of the exhibition “Formes vivantes” is to focus on how the living are represented in the art of ceramics, from the Renaissance to today, following the intricacies of the path of a dialogue between arts and sciences.