This exhibition, organised with the special collaboration of the Louvre Museum, presents a precise chronological development of Ingres' work, but also looks very specifically at his complex relationship with the art of portrait painting, constructed through rejection and admiration, and which clashes with his constant ambition to be recognised, first and foremost, as a painter of History.
The work of Ingres, anchored in academicism in appearance only, undoubtedly constitutes an essential milestone in the march towards the artistic revolutions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A descendent of Rafael and Poussin, his work undoubtedly lit the way for Picasso and anatomical distortions, inspiring the renewal of 19th Century European schools, particularly in Spain.
Image: La Grande Odalisque, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1814, Musée du Louvre.