Marvels! The 200th anniversary exhibition of the Musée national de Céramique in Sèvres (92)

The Musée national de Céramique, located in Sèvres, has been open to the public since 1824 and houses a fabulous collection of objects including ceramics, of course, but also graphic arts, paintings and samples of raw materials, dating from prehistoric times to the present day, from all over the world. To celebrate its bicentenary, the museum has designed an exhibition around its Wonders, presented from October 11, 2024 to March 10, 2025.

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Visitors enjoy a veritable voyage through almost 500 exceptional, unusual, poetic or strange treasures, some of them very fragile, brought out of the storerooms, and presented in 10 different tableaux that tell the story of the museum, which for the occasion becomes a veritable cabinet of curiosities. The visitor passes through the Cabinet du Savant, recalling the original museum designed by Alexandre Brongniart in 1801, where the Manufacture's first creations and acquisitions, which inspired artists at the time, can be found.

We then travel to far-off lands, amidst exotic creations from China, Peru and Mali, demonstrating the variety of materials and techniques available in ceramics. The complexity and beauty of these uncommon objects are often awe-inspiring. In the House of Tales, we find magical and imaginary curiosities, where witches bringing good luck rub shoulders with earthenware castles.

On the Unexpected side, the bizarre takes its place, with objects as bewildering as the leech jar or the glass eye prostheses, which sometimes make us wince. From discomfort, we move on to La Vie en Rose and the Power of Flowers, where we learn that pink was once made of gold, resulting in some very precious objects, and see a whole host of delicate, fragile floral motifs, originally born of a need to hide flaws!

We then enter the treasure room with Tout ce qui Brille and its incredible gilding, with an amazing musical pebble that caught our eye, before moving on to the most impressive room in our opinion, Joyeux Anniversaire, where a fantastic decor takes pride of place with a poor armadillo that has ended up on the plate, an incredible work of art, amidst hundreds of teacups that make us feel like we're at Alice in Wonderland's table!

After this snack, we head for the Chambre des Merveilles, to discover the museum team's favorites, some of which are being shown to the public for the first time, before finishing with the Galerie de Portraits, full of eccentric faces, funny or sad, amusing or truly disturbing, sometimes quite simply magnificent.

A glimpse of the museum's heritage, which suggests that 200 years of exhibitions are still to come. In the meantime, let's browse through this eventful exhibition and its merry bazaar, absolutely thrilling to discover with its many oddities from near and far!

A creative program accompanies the exhibition, featuring poetic installations, performances and artists' creations, to celebrate the anniversary in style!