De l'Allemagne, 1800-1939

As it turns its gaze towards Germany, the Louvre looks into a question as complex as it is fascinating: the affirmation of national sentiment in Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. The phenomenon in Germany is explored through fine arts and literature, where the notion of Kultur helped to cement and unify the peoples of a territory that at the time was huge, new and multicultural, stretching from the Rhineland to Prussia. Following in the wake of  Goethe, this ambitious exhibition also focuses on the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, Paul Klee and Otto Dix in pursuit of the emergence of the modern nation. A nation that searched tirelessly within its culture, including during the Napoleonic occupation, a crucible of romanticism, and in the inter-war period, marked by the caustic, satirical traits of the New Objectivity. All of which demonstrates a German tradition which invents, develops and reinvents itself freely until the rise of Nazism – an impasse which pushed even the idea of nationalism into its darkest and most tragic corners.

Opening hours: Mon, Thu, Sat, Sun 9am-6pm; Wed, Fri 9am-9.45pm; closed Tue