The exhibition LIBERTÉ! - Ary Scheffer and French Romanticism. This exhibition takes you back to nineteenth-century Paris, a time of political unrest and cultural blossoming. Artists used their brushes as weapons and climbed onto the barricades themselves. Such was the case with Ary Scheffer, from Dordrecht, who quickly became one of the most famous painters in Paris. His work still hangs in the Louvre. Together with artists such as Delacroix and Géricault , he fought for freedom and equality; the ideals of the French Revolution of 1789. The story of Scheffer and French Romanticism is a European and topical one, told for the first time in the Netherlands with this exhibition.
It was the time of the collective versus the individual. Of individual freedom and expression. In many ways, this romantic thinking lives on today. Contemporary themes such as the power of the citizen, the power of action, the yearning for national autonomy and the consequences of wars of independence found resonance in the often meter-sized, impressive paintings. There are not many movements in which there is such a great interaction between social developments, philosophy, religion, art, music and literature.
The Dordrecht Museum owns the largest collection of Scheffers in the world, the most impressive works of which will be shown during the exhibition. Many special loans will also be on display. For example, an oil sketch of the world-famous Raft of Médusa by Géricault will be on display (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Angers) and visitors can enjoy Ingres' Paolo and Francesca (Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham). Also on display is Jacob fighting the angel by Eugène Delacroix, from Belvedere Museum in Vienna.
