"The City of Paris museums are doing well!" It is with this more than positive assessment that Carine Rolland, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of culture, celebrated the success of the 2021-2022 season that is coming to an end. After two years affected by the pandemic and restricted cultural life, the exhibitions and collections of the 14 Parisian museums attracted more than 2.2 million visitors in 2021. In the first quarter of 2022, visitor numbers even exceeded those of the same period in 2019. This achievement can be explained by exhibits that are "demanding, ambitious and accessible to all," said Carine Rolland.
Paris Musées is not content to rest on its laurels, however. For its 2022-2023 program, which will begin in September, the capital's museums have decided to pay tribute to female creators – visual artists, photographers and actresses – through exhibitions on a variety of themes. "We want to give them visibility because they are above all great artists, some of them forgotten," said Ms. Rolland. "Paris Musées wants to participate in this women's emancipation movement that is currently taking place in our society."
The Musée de la Vie Romantique has already begun this with its temporary exhibition "Héroïnes Romantiques," which began on April 6 and will end on September 4. To continue this theme, between April and September 2023, the museum will invite the French visual artist Françoise Pétrovitch, little known to the general public, to display her work throughout the institution. From the house to the workshops and garden, the museum will offer a journey around the artist's paintings, sculptures and drawings. "What remains of romanticism in contemporary art today?" asked Gaëlle Rio, the director. Two themes will be honored: nature and the feeling of love communicated by a couple's unspoken words and uncertainties. Several pieces will be created for the occasion and displayed to the public for the first time.
Anna-Eva Bergman and Zoe Leonard at the Musée d’Art Moderne
At the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, the focus on female creators will be twofold. Starting on March 31 and running through July 16, 2023, the museum will host a retrospective dedicated to the Franco-Norwegian painter Anna-Eva Bergman. "There is a kind of secrecy around her work because she is a woman," said Fabrice Hergott, the director. "Today, her talent begs to be reconsidered." While the museum had already celebrated her in 1977, this artist, a key figure in post-war painting, is back in the rooms devoted to major historical exhibitions, with over 200 works (paintings, graphic arts, manuscripts and archives). In collaboration with the Fondation Hartung-Bergman, the exhibition will shed light on her work, which is characterized by a pictorial language inspired by Nordic landscapes and mythologies.
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