Françoise Pétrovitch in her studio in Verneuil. Photo Hervé Plumet © Adapg, Paris, 2023

Addressing the themes of landscape and feelings of love, the exhibition “Françoise Petrovitch. To like. Breaking up” is part of the ambition to open the museum's program beyond the XNUMXth century, by exploring the extensions of romanticism in contemporary art.

Françoise Petrovicth, Untitled, 2022, ink wash on paper, 120 x 80 cm © A. Mole © Courtesy Galerie Semiose, © Adagp, Paris 2023

For many years, Françoise Pétrovitch has been developing a body of work whose poetry and disturbing strangeness resonate with subjects dear to the romantic movement. Visitors are invited to discover this unique look of the artist through a sensitive wandering, to meet his new creations.

After an introduction in the salon workshop presenting the artist and his original work for the Museum of Romantic Life, the route of the exhibition is divided into several stages.

– The lower room of the large workshop immerses the public in a panorama of fifteen ink washes on paper. Echoing the romantics' new look at nature in the XNUMXth century, Françoise Pétrovitch draws imaginary landscapes composed of islands and forests, in the midst of which human figures, with a silent and enigmatic presence, appear.

Françoise Pétrovitch, George Sand, 2023, oil on canvas, 91 × 73 cm © A. Mole, Courtesy Semiose, Paris © Adagp, Paris, 2023

– The upper room of the large studio presents very large format paintings. Sometimes designed as a diptych, they portray contemporary characters, often teenagers, and question the bond that unites two beings.

The exhibition continues in the house where paintings, drawings and works of art are scattered among the works of the XNUMXth century. The romantic figures of the museum, such as George Sand or Pauline Viardot, thus become contemporary heroines under the brush of Françoise Pétrovitch.

Françoise Pétrovitch, Untitled, 2023, oil on canvas, diptych, 240 x 160 cm © A. Mole, Courtesy Semiose, Paris © Adagp, Paris, 2023

Finally, erected in the center of the garden, the sculpture L'Ogresse challenges the public by playing on the traditional codes of the representation of power and by announcing the triumph of the feminine.
Within the tour, the public will be able to discover a documentary produced by Hervé Plumet on the creative work of Françoise Pétrovitch for the Museum of Romantic Life. The exhibition is also aimed at schoolchildren and teenagers who will find in the artist's works a contemporary look at youth and its feelings. A participatory project conducted with students from the Marx Dormoy college (Paris 18th) and the Contemporary Art Fund-Paris collections is presented in the course. Visitors will be able to download the nine sound paintings produced by the college students around the artist's works.
Finally, a rich cultural program also accompanies the exhibition: talking points around the artist's works by students from the École du Louvre, meeting with the artist, concert-reading on the theme of feelings of love, cycle of concerts offered by the Conservatoire with regional influence in Paris – opening up for the occasion to musical creation from the XNUMXth and XNUMXst centuries – or even choreographic presences.

The exhibition catalog under the direction of Gaëlle Rio, director of the museum, reproduces all the unpublished works of the artist and continues the dialogue between the creation of Françoise Pétrovitch and the Museum of Romantic Life, through a rich corpus of images, a long interview and essays.

Useful information :
April 5 – September 10, 2023

Full price 10€
Reduced price 8€

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Free admission to the permanent collections

Exhibition Curator
Gaëlle Rio, director of the Museum of Romantic Life
Françoise Pétrovitch, guest artist
Scientific cooperation
Élodie Kuhn, deputy director of the museum

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