Ames sauvages, a return to symbolism in the Baltic states at the Musée d'Orsay

Theexhibition Ames sauvages, retour sur le symbolisme dans les pays baltes presented at the Musée d'Orsay from April 10 to July 15, 2018 is one of the first events markingthe centenary of Baltic independence.

Bringing together around 130 works, including many unknown to the French public, the Musée d'Orsay brings back to the fore the themes used by Baltic artists in the early 20th century: myths, the soul and nature.

We discover how artists used popular culture and Baltic landscapes to salute or criticize their country's independence. Some artists became romantics, collecting oral legends and immortalizing them on paper (Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, Kalevipoeg), and popular music (Ciurlionis).

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Then, as European countries changed with urbanization, artists embarked on a grand project: to immortalize the landscapes of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, their vast untouched expanses, the superhuman power of natural phenomena, but also the change of nature with the seasons!

Finally, Baltic symbolism would be nothing without research into the Soul, a dominant theme between 1890 and 1920, with the advent of psychoanalysis: in the rooms of the Musée d'Orsay, a graphic arts cabinet entitled Tourments de l'âme will highlight the violent aspects specific to certain symbolist figurations.

A Baltic festival will be held from May 22 to 29, 2018, with concerts, readings, lectures and film screenings to help visitors better understand life in the Baltic states at the time of their independence.