Contemporary Art Program at the Orsay and the Orangerie Museums
The Museums invite contemporary artists to create exhibitions, installations and cultural programming. Inspired by the Museums’ collections, they share their special viewpoints with the public in innovative ways, that emphasize the relevance of Impressionist works to our contemporary world.
At the Musée d’Orsay:
The program highlights the richness of the collections in a new fluid form of presentation and finds inspiration in painting, sculpture, decorative arts, photography, and architecture. The works exposed are eloquent witnesses of a period of dramatic change in the arts, in a rapidly changing world of industrialization, mass migrations into the cities, innovation, and democratization… the beginning of modernity. The contemporary programming employs a variety of formats in the Museum’s gallery spaces and online that range from podcasts and videos to exhibitions, to conferences, and installations. The world’s most important collection of works from the 19th and early 20th century remains relevant to today’s artists and enchanted visitors.
At the Musée de l’Orangerie:
The Musée de l’Orangerie reserves two spaces for modern and contemporary works to infuse the collections with today’s energy. One gallery is integrated into the Jean Walter- Paul Guillaume permanent collection in a fascinating exchange between the past and our present via painting, sculpture, graphic arts, audio and film installations. The second space outside of the permanent collection is in dialogue with Monet’s masterpiece: New contemplative and spiritual creations flow from his fabled “Waterlilies” across all media (painting, photography, sculpture, installations…).