Upcoming Dearest FriendsDrawings in the Collections of 19th-Century French Artists 17 October 2026 – 17 January 2027 Hippolyte Flandrin (1809-1864) and Paul Flandrin (1811-1902), Double Self-Portrait, 1835 Graphite crayon, 25.4 × 19.8 cmMusée du Louvre, département des Arts graphiques, Paris, inv. RF 4021© GrandPalaisRmn (musée du Louvre) / Michel Urtado In the nineteenth-century, out of friendship, admiration or loyalty, artists surrounded themselves with the works of their peers, amongst which drawings – intimate and personal objects – held a special place. This exhibition delves into the heart of these artists’ collections and sheds light on nineteenth-century drawing in France. It offers an opportunity to explore the various social circles and the personalities of the artist-collectors on display, all of whom were born between the last third of the eighteenth century and the first half of the following century. Also including paintings and documents, the exhibition features a selection of remarkable sheets, often gifted or exchanged, bearing witness to the artists’ sense of kinship. Illustrious names, such as Théodore Gericault, Honoré Daumier, and James Whistler, stand next to lesser-known ones. The collections met with various fates after the deaths of their owners: some were preserved and bequeathed to museums, for instance that of Pierre-Jean David d’Angers, now in Angers; others were dispersed at public auction, the most admired of which remains the collection of Edgar Degas. Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), A Bouquet of Flowers, circa 1849-1850 Black crayon, watercolour, gouache, pastel, on two joint sheets of grey-blue paper, 65 × 65.4 cmMusée du Louvre, Paris, inv. RF 31 719© GrandPalaisRmn (musée du Louvre) / Michel Urtado From the French Academy in Rome at the Villa Medici, where the first friendships between winners of the Prix de Rome were forged, to Paris studios, the exhibition explores these networks of artists. Some collected the works of their masters, others those of their friends, giving rise to collections marked by loyalty and admiration. Two key figures form the core of the show: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres and Eugène Delacroix. Their works, carefully kept by peers, are testament to their enduring influence and the fascination they held for their contemporaries. The exhibition brings together nearly 120 works thanks to several public and private collections, notably the Musée du Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, as well as from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and numerous French institutions, such as the museums in Angers, Besançon and Rouen. Their generosity allows these works, rarely seen and some even unpublished, to be revealed to a larger public, and enables the reconstruction of ensembles that have never been displayed since their dispersion more than a century ago. With the exceptional participation of the Musée du Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay.
Upcoming Dearest FriendsDrawings in the Collections of 19th-Century French Artists 17 October 2026 – 17 January 2027 Hippolyte Flandrin (1809-1864) and Paul Flandrin (1811-1902), Double Self-Portrait, 1835 Graphite crayon, 25.4 × 19.8 cmMusée du Louvre, département des Arts graphiques, Paris, inv. RF 4021© GrandPalaisRmn (musée du Louvre) / Michel Urtado In the nineteenth-century, out of friendship, admiration or loyalty, artists surrounded themselves with the works of their peers, amongst which drawings – intimate and personal objects – held a special place. This exhibition delves into the heart of these artists’ collections and sheds light on nineteenth-century drawing in France. It offers an opportunity to explore the various social circles and the personalities of the artist-collectors on display, all of whom were born between the last third of the eighteenth century and the first half of the following century. Also including paintings and documents, the exhibition features a selection of remarkable sheets, often gifted or exchanged, bearing witness to the artists’ sense of kinship. Illustrious names, such as Théodore Gericault, Honoré Daumier, and James Whistler, stand next to lesser-known ones. The collections met with various fates after the deaths of their owners: some were preserved and bequeathed to museums, for instance that of Pierre-Jean David d’Angers, now in Angers; others were dispersed at public auction, the most admired of which remains the collection of Edgar Degas. Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), A Bouquet of Flowers, circa 1849-1850 Black crayon, watercolour, gouache, pastel, on two joint sheets of grey-blue paper, 65 × 65.4 cmMusée du Louvre, Paris, inv. RF 31 719© GrandPalaisRmn (musée du Louvre) / Michel Urtado From the French Academy in Rome at the Villa Medici, where the first friendships between winners of the Prix de Rome were forged, to Paris studios, the exhibition explores these networks of artists. Some collected the works of their masters, others those of their friends, giving rise to collections marked by loyalty and admiration. Two key figures form the core of the show: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres and Eugène Delacroix. Their works, carefully kept by peers, are testament to their enduring influence and the fascination they held for their contemporaries. The exhibition brings together nearly 120 works thanks to several public and private collections, notably the Musée du Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, as well as from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and numerous French institutions, such as the museums in Angers, Besançon and Rouen. Their generosity allows these works, rarely seen and some even unpublished, to be revealed to a larger public, and enables the reconstruction of ensembles that have never been displayed since their dispersion more than a century ago. With the exceptional participation of the Musée du Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay.