The commercial revolution of the 19th century transformed the city. Artists were privileged witnesses to these economic, visual and social upheavals, and their works reflect the incessant bustle of the shopping streets.
Jules Adler and Raoul Dufy are exhibited alongside Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, Camille Pissarro, Edouard Manet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Maximilien Luce and Théophile Steilen. The tour brings to life the hustle and bustle of commercial cities through some one hundred works (paintings, photographs, sculptures, films, drawings, engravings), together with small ensembles of commercial signs, advertising posters and promotional objects, turning the city into a "storehouse of images and signs", as Charles Baudelaire wrote in 1859.
Internships, family weekends and guided tours are offered in conjunction with the exhibition, and the full program is available on the museum website.
With the exceptional support of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Musée d'Orsay, the Musée Carnavalet-Histoire de Paris and the National Gallery in Washington.
