L'argent Dans L'art

Exhibition at the Musée de la Monnaie, Paris, 30 March - 24 September 2023

The links between art and money have multiplied and changed over the centuries. From the 15th century, when representations of metallic coins and scenes of transactions in painting multiplied, to the 19th century, which saw its art economy overturned by the birth of Impressionism and the preponderant role of the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, and then to the 20th century, when a more intrusive reflection on the mechanisms of money appeared, the imaginary world produced by artists about money is rich and permanent.

Through 200 works from Antiquity to the present day, this exhibition catalogue offers an analysis of the links between art and money, from the representation of ancient myth and the denunciation of the amoral use of money by the Catholic Church to the invention of the art market and digital artworks. The book presents works by artists as diverse as Simon Vouet, Louis le Nain, Degas, Renoir, Arman and Warhol.