Swan Song. Academic paintings of Paris salons

The Fundación Mapfre doesn't usually let us down. And it looks like this time is no different with this promising exhibition that includes 84 works from collections from the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. The idea is to show that the 'academic' shouldn't be something that keeps us away. After all, there lie Cabanel, Bouguereau, Moreau, Ingres and Sargent – names from 19th-century French academicism who feature in this show to teach their own value, far from the pejorative connotations that at risk here. Without academia, this exhibition sets out to show, many elements of modernity wouldn't be what they are. See for yourself, and be convinced.