Press

Discover the collection of Spanish art in the musée du Louvre thanks to the multimedia displays designed as part of the Louvre – DNP Museum Lab project. This interactive and fun approach gives you the keys to understanding masterpieces by Zurbarán, Murillo and Goya.

Following upon major exhibitions devoted to masters of the High Renaissance—Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael—The Springtime of the Renaissance deals with the genesis of this major artistic and cultural movement, which first arose in Florence in the early years of the fifteenth century. Sculpture, an essential aspect of this rebirth, is the central focus of this exhibition. Some 140 works are presented, including several monumental ones, grouped into ten thematic sections. In addition to sculptures, the exhibition also features paintings, drawings, manuscripts, silver and gold pieces, and tin-glazed earthenware (majolicas).

Remarkably conserved, this great mosaic was discovered in Lod in 1996 during the construction of a highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. This unique pavement, decorating the floor of a house, presents abundant animal life inserted into geometric patterns. Presented in the majestic setting of the cour du Sphinx, in close proximity to the new spaces devoted to the Eastern Mediterranean Provinces of the Roman Empire, the Mosaic of Lod is exceptionally displayed at the Louvre Museum before returning to Lod and to the museum, currently under construction, that will house it.

The tenth Louvre - DNP Museum Lab presentation, which closes the second phase of this partnership between the Louvre and Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd (DNP), invites visitors to discover the art of ancient Greece, a civilization which had a significant impact on Western art and culture. They will be able to admire four works from the Louvre's Greek art collection, and in particular a ceramic masterpiece known as the Krater of Antaeus. This experimental exhibition features a series of original multimedia displays designed to enhance the observation and understanding of Greek artworks.

The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne is one of Leonardo da Vinci’s most ambitious compositions. Celebrated already by those having visited the Florentine master’s studio in the early stages of the painting’s conception, this work was the culmination of a long process occupying the artist during the last twenty years of his life. To this day, a number of questions remain unanswered, particularly as to the origin of the commission, how the painting evolved, and its early history. Recently, several historical and scientific discoveries have provided important clues, although without resolving all of the doubts surrounding this work.

The musée du Louvre, the High Museum of Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and the Terra Foundation for American Art have announced the launch of a four-year collaboration devoted to American art. The first installation will explore the rise of American landscape painting through the works of Thomas Cole and Asher B. Durand.

The creation of a new wing dedicated to Islamic art at the Louvre represents a decisive phase in the architectural history of the palace and in the development of the museum. The design and installation of these new galleries is the museum’s single largest expansion project since I. M. Pei created the now-famous Pyramid twenty years ago. The new department will soon be home to one of the most exceptional collections of Islamic art in the world, owing to its geographic diversity, the historical periods covered, and the wide variety of materials and techniques represented.

“All information on the budget and the financing of new galleries of the Cour Visconti (new rooms of the Department of Islamic Art and areas devoted to the collections of the East Mediterranean in the Roman Empire).”

As part of a new partnership with Nintendo, the Louvre museum has launched an unusual tour guide using Nintendo 3DSTM. Constantly looking for ways to stimulate and entertain its 8.9 million annual visitors, the Louvre remains committed to its digital ventures: interactive and original, the Louvre - Nintendo 3DS audio guide offers museum visitors the best possible experience.

As a counterpoint to the major traveling retrospective devoted to the remarkable career of Gerhard Richter, initiated by Tate Modern (October 6, 2011–January 8, 2012), subsequently on view at the Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie (February 12–May 13, 2012), to be followed by the Centre Pompidou (June 6–September 24, 2012), the Louvre exhibits about a hundred works on paper in the Mollien rooms of the museum’s Department of Prints and Drawings.