The Artist’s Fabric at the Bourdelle Museum: What Secrets Lie in the Wardrobes of the World’s Leading Designers?

What lies behind the wardrobes of the era’s leading creators? From September 23, 2026 to January 24, 2027, the Musée Bourdelle presents The Cloth of the Artist. From Rosa Bonheur to Sonia Delaunay, a groundbreaking exhibition that investigates the wardrobe, public image, and staging strategies of art figures from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century. Born from the remarkable 2020 rediscovery of garments by Antoine Bourdelle in the institution’s storerooms, this parcours offers a fresh perspective on what textile attire reveals about creative postures.

Here, clothing goes beyond the mere status of an accessory or a practical detail. Whether it's an embroidered official garment, a blouse de travail, a feutre mou de rapin bohème or a tenue folklorique, each piece tells a trajectory, a social milieu and a quest for identity. If most painters still pose in dark, codified outfits at the end of the 19th century, others break with convention by flaunting the workshop look, elevating manual labor to an aesthetic ideal.

• To be read
• Free fashion exhibitions not to be missed in Paris
• The Musée Bourdelle, a free museum-workshop dedicated to the sculptor in Paris
• Best bets for the week of September 14–20, 2026 in Paris and Île-de-France

At the turn of the 20th century, the wardrobe becomes a tool for emancipation and experimentation. It appears as a political manifesto, an extension of the creative act, and a vector of identity, all at once. Some designers explore gender fluidity and cross-dressing, while others draw on real or imagined sources to signal their marginal stance. Over time, this meticulously crafted silhouette becomes inseparable from the artist’s name, forging a recognizable stance that endures in history.

Spread across the museum's various spaces, the tour is built around several captivating themes:

• Inheriting and self-recognition: Codes of social distinction—from the rosettes of the Legion of Honour to Rosa Bonheur’s laced jacket, up to the artist’s established academic dress.
• Becoming an artist: The birth of the myth of the bohemian creator in a threadbare jacket, a narrative widely spread by the press and era caricatures.
• Protecting oneself and Borrowing: Adopting peasant blouses and working-class outfits to handle the material, epitomized by Gustav Klimt’s iconic indigo linen blouse with embroidery.
• Setting off: Wardrobe escapes toward Breton folklore (as seen with Pont-Aven painters), orientalism, or mystic outfits drawn from esoteric inspirations.

The exhibition at the Musée Bourdelle brings together remarkable textile pieces that converse directly with paintings, sculptures, photographs and graphic arts. The wardrobes of Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita, Sonia Delaunay, Camille Bernier and Jacob Meijer de Haan cross paths with the era’s works, revealing styling strategies that were sometimes tailor-made for posterity.

At the crossroads of art history, sociology, and fashion, The Cloth of the Artist at the Musée Bourdelle invites visitors to view creation through the wardrobe lens, showing that the public image of painters and sculptors was shaped just as much by the folds of a jacket or blouse as by the canvas.

This page may contain AI-assisted elements, more information here.