Exhibition "Symbolism in Baltic Art" - Musée D'orsay

The exhibition Symbolism in Baltic Art (Le symbolisme dans l’art des pays Baltes) will be one of the most ambitious joint projects for the Baltic Centenary and among the largest centenary events to take place abroad. Latvijas Nacionālais mākslas muzejs / The Latvian National Museum of Art initiated the project which will be carried out in cooperation with its Baltic colleagues – the national art museums in Tallinn, Vilnius, and Kaunas.

The exhibition will be open to the public from 9 APRIL 2018 to 15 JULY 2018 at Musée d'Orsay, the most prestigious place to celebrate the Baltic Centenary and represent Baltic art.

“We see this as an excellent cultural-political event and a unique collaborative project, because a collaborative Baltic art exhibition on such a grand scale has taken place only once before – in 1937, when the Baltic states worked together to create a pavilion at the International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life (Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne). It is significant that next year art created before 1918 will be travelling to Paris, – these works tell the story of the period when all three Baltic states were developing their national identities,” emphases Latvian Minister of Culture Dace Melbārde.

“We are honoured to be partners in this significant Baltic cooperation project, which will give the French audience the opportunity to discover and learn about symbolism in the art of the Baltic states. Symbolism in Baltic Art will be the first exhibition to be unveiled at the grand re-opening the newly renovated Musée d'Orsay exhibition halls in the spring 2018,’’ announced Béatrice Avanzi, curator of the Musée d'Orsay and Musée de l'Orangerie.

Exhibit curator and concept-author of the exhibition is internationally recognised European Symbolism researcher, the author of numerous books and articles, and curator of many exhibitions, Rodolphe Rapetti.

Around 150 works of art – paintings, pastels, drawings, etchings, lithographs, and sculptures created during the period from 1890 to the 1920s – have been selected for this ambitious exhibition curated in collaboration with the four Baltic national museums – the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga, the Art Museum of Estonia in Tallinn, the Lithuanian Art Museum in Vilnius, and the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art in Kaunas.

More information: lv100.lv/en/news/the-exhibition-symbolism-in-baltic-art-is-coming-to-the-musee-d-orsay-in-paris-in-2018/