How do we look at territories from afar? That is the question asked by the Paintings from afar exhibition running in Musée du Quai Branly from January 30, 2018 to February 6, 2019. An exhibition that puts a light on the evolution of the Western perception of “distant and not-so-distant populations” through an exhibition of paintings collections belonging to the cultural establishment that have never been displayed before.

All in all, not less that 220 graphic and other canvases are offered to the eye of everyone gathering “from George Catlin’s portraits of Amerindians to scenes of the daily life in Cairo by Emile Bernard without forgetting the drawings and etchings from Tahiti” by Matisse or even Gauguin. Works from the 18^th century to the 20^th century, marking the evolution of the Western perception of the world and asking the visitors about the notion of exoticism and their perception of the other “as it happens of the European man about the wide world at the time of great expeditions”.

An exhibition that will also returns to the “historiography of a composite collection largely unknown and born in a rapidly expanding colonial Europe”.

Practical information:
Paintings from afar
Musée du Quai Branly, Mezzanine Ouest
From January 30, 2018 to February 6, 2019
Opening hours: from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Address: 37 quai Branly – 75015 Paris
Rates: €10 (regular), €7 (reduced)

(Credits: ©Jeanne Thil)