Les Origines Du Monde L'invention De La Nature Au Xixe Siècle

Exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, 15 December, 2020 - 2 May, 2021

The 19th century saw an unprecedented development in the natural sciences. The great voyages of exploration revealed the diversity of the world and the variety of living species; geology discovered the unimaginably great age of the Earth and its transformations over time; the study of fossils revealed the ancient beginnings of life and the existence of now-extinct species. The discovery of prehistoric man raised the question: how should he be depicted? Who was the first artist?

The Symbolist aesthetic of metamorphosis was populated with monsters and hybrids; Art Nouveau and Symbolism displayed a fascination for the origins of life.

This exhibition catalogue, at the intersection of sciences and arts, covers the themes in question of the time and compares the principal milestones in scientific discoveries with their parallels in the imagination.