The exhibition L'Empire des sens brings a sensual atmosphere to the Musée Cognacq-Jay. Some sixty paintings and drawings offer a glimpse into the intimacy and libertinism that marked the 18th century. Theexhibition, originally scheduled to run from December 2, 2020 to March 28, 2021 to mark the 250th anniversary of the death of painter François Boucher, will now be held from May 19 to July 18, 2021.
The artist was the first painter to King Louis XV and was considered a master of erotic and licentious paintings. The exhibition at Musée Cognacq-Jay brings together his most daring works, alongside those of his colleagues Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Antoine Watteau. The paintings come from international public and private collections. Some will be exhibited to the general public for the first time in France.
The visit to the exhibition begins gently, with the characters' first emotions. As the works progress, desire gradually builds, until it is finally satisfied. Empire of the senses. From François Boucher to Jean-Baptiste Greuze is an erotic journey back to the 18th century. These images from the past reveal the place of sensual pleasure and women in Enlightenment society.
Love games, chaste gestures, violent impulses or all-consuming passions: painters depictlove in all its forms. They respond to and challenge each other through their works, and also engage in dialogue with the libertine literature so popular at the time.
At the end of the exhibition, the Musée Cognacq-Jay has also prepared a very special erotica cabinet, featuring some sixty extraordinary pornographic objects - paintings, miniatures, secret boxes, dummy books and more. These never-before-seen objects reveal the most secret shores of the erotic imagination of the Age of Enlightenment, flirting with the frontiers of the forbidden.
Come and discover 18th-century libertine Paris, a city of passion and love.
Dates and Opening Time
From May 19, 2021 to July 18, 2021
Location
Musée Cognacq-Jay
8, rue Elzévir
75003 Paris 3
Access
Metro line 1 "Saint-Paul" station
Prices
tarif réduit: €6
plein tarif: €8
Official website
www.museecognacqjay.paris.fr
Booking
www.billetterie-parismusees.paris.fr
More information
The museum is open every day except Monday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
