In Montargis, Géricault is featured at the Musée Girodet

Named the Venice of the Gâtinais, Montargis, a peaceful commune in the Loiret department, part of the Centre-Val de Loire region, also shelters an important religious and cultural patrimony, including the Musée Girodet. At the heart of the former Druzy private mansion, it was named after the neo-classic painter and displays collections of paintings, sculptures and bronzes by leading European masters.

Girodet, the spotlight museum of Montargis

Since its reopening, in December 2018, this historical venue is hosting its first important event, « Girodet facing Géricault or the Romantic Battle of the 1819 Salon. » Having been awarded the fetish label of National Interest Exhibition, it will be the only one in France to celebrate the bicentennial of the Salon de Peinture du Louvre of 1819, by reconstituting, in its renovated galleries, a part of this famed art fair.

Painted at the same time, the portrait of General Louis de La Rochejaquelein, alongside Pygmalion and Galatea, are filled with details. © DR

A canon of beauty, the Grande Odalisque by Jules Flandrin, in the manner of Ingres, is reproduced on all the advertizing supports. © DR

A duel of  great classics

At the time, the painting of « Pygmalion and Galatea » by Girodet was pitted against the « Raft of Medusa » by Géricault, flagship of an aesthetic avant-garde. A duel that was at the heart of debates and constant controversies between the different artistic schools. Will you make the journey to judge by yourselves and discover the atmosphere of yesteryear in its galleries?

Remarkable masterpiece by Géricault, the  « Raft of Medusa » is subject to a great many interpretations. © DR