Black Models: Géricault to Matisse at the Orsay Museum

Many artists have immortalised black people in their work, often going against the typical representations of their respective periods. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach, the Musée d’Orsay’s Black Models: From Géricault to Matisse explores the portrayal of black figures in visual arts, from the late 18th century to the modern day.

Designed to provide a long-term perspective, the exhibition focuses on three key periods: the abolition of slavery in France; the new age of painting up to Matisse’s discovery of the Harlem Renaissance and the early 20th-century avant-garde movement; and the successive generations of post-war and contemporary artists.

From Théodore Géricault, Charles Cordier and Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux to Édouard Manet, Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse, this eye-opening exhibition examines artists’ crucial role in challenging perceptions – and pre-conceptions – of race and ‘otherness’ across the centuries.

March 26 to July 21 at the Musée d’Orsay
1 rue de la Légion d’Honneur, 75007 Paris.
Tel: +33 (0)1 40 49 48 14
Open from 9h30-18h, with late evening closures at 21h45 on Thursdays. Closed Mondays.
Full-price ticket is 14 €
www.musee-orsay.fr

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From France Today magazine