THE MORNING LIST
The programme promises to be rich this autumn. The Pompidou Centre in Paris celebrates the centenary of the publication of the first Manifesto of surrealism André Breton, in 1924, with a very extensive exhibition dedicated to this intellectual and artistic movement. Other notable artistic movements: Arte Povera, at the Bourse de Comércio, and Pop Art, at the Louis Vuitton Foundation.
“The intimate, from the bedroom to social media”
We imagine intimacy as a secret garden, a room of one’s own, protected from others. Yet moral conventions and social control have governed it for centuries, as demonstrated by the dense exhibition “The Intimate, from the Bedroom to Social Networks,” organized at the Museum of Decorative Arts under the general curatorship of its director, Christine Macel, and the historian of design and architecture Fulvio Irace. A rich crossroads of eras and genres, from objects of convenience to 1960s cocoon sofas, from the bathroom scenes of Edgar Degas (1834-1917) to the photographs of Nan Goldin or Zanele Muholi.
The question of privacy arose in France during the 18th century.my century, with its rosy-cheeked coquettes peering through the keyhole. But it was in the following century that intimacy took its mark, with the rise of a bourgeoisie that separated family life from professional life. In the 20thmy century, and even more so in the 21stmy century, everything is moving: design reflects the tension between the desire for isolation and the need for promiscuity. Social media has ended up blurring the line between the public and private spheres. Precariousness and exile finally remind us of the difficulty of preserving privacy when we no longer have our own space.
Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris. From October 15 to March 30, 2025.
“Figures of the Fool. From the Middle Ages to the Romantics”
In the Middle Ages, madmen were everywhere. Not as defined by modern psychiatry, but those who manifested a common madness: that of all men – and women – who, permanently or occasionally, during carnival season, gave themselves over to their passions instead of ensuring the salvation of their souls.
It is this forgotten excess that the Louvre Museum recovers through more than 300 works: a journey through madness as conceived by northern European art, which reveals a fascinating period culminating in some decisive texts, such as The ship of foolspublished by Sébastien Brant, in 1494, followed, in ironic response, by In Praise of Follyby Erasmus in 1511. The former opposed the crises of his time with moderation and wisdom. Erasmus, for his part, wondered whether it was not the wise men, the reasoners, who were truly mad…
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