Paris – Athens, the Birth of Modern Greece: the Louvre exhibition, our pictures

The Louvre offers us a wonderful travel in time, a journey from Paris to Athens, discovering modern Greece. From September 30, 2021 to February 7, 2021, get on board for an extraordinary adventure celebrating the bicentenary of the independence of Greece.

If you are not really happy about the end of the summer, we have some good news: the Louvre runs a very beautiful exhibition from September 30, 2021 to February 7, 2022 to celebrate the bicentenary of the independence of Greece. Called “Paris - Athens, the Birth of Modern Greece”, this exhibition gathers many works of art and elements enabling us to better grasp the identity of this country with such a rich culture.

In 1821, the Greek people rebelled and rejected the Ottoman tutelage. They proclaimed their independence and fight to become a free, empowered, and strong nation again.

Paintings, sculptures, photographs, archeology, literature, costumes… How to define the identity of a country whose story is so old, whose culture has changed so much over many centuries? These works, displayed in the Napoleon hall can help us rediscover modern Greece we would be wrong to reduce to the former temples devoted to gods of the Pantheon.

All along the exhibition, you can see this country and culture evolve, adapt to become the unique civilization we know and love.

The fantastic staging gives a peek at the glory and the grandeur of Greek monuments and arts. Statues, frescoes, photographs... The history of Greece unfolds through its arts, and before our admirative eyes. And then again, we are left in awe, admiring the paintings and the sculptures skillfully staged in this exhibition area in the Louvre.

This exhibition is also the occasion to celebrate and tighten the friendly bonds between France and Greece. In 1821, the same year Greece won its independence, the Mediterranean country has given the Louvre one of their jewels, a work now as iconic as the Mona Lisa: the Venus de Milo.

This journey between Paris and Athens is the journey of tourists, adventurers, archeologists, artists, and politicians started over 200 years ago. A journey filled with beauty, surprises, exploits and strokes of genius.

A journey we gladly complete thanks to this exhibition. And a journey – we hope – will last 200 more years.