Couleur, Gloire et Beauté
Germanic paintings in French collections (1420-1550)
04.05 – 23.09.2024
A research project at the heart of an exhibition From 4 May to 23 September 2024, the Musée Unterlinden will be presenting an exhibition devoted to Upper Rhine painting in the 15th and 16th centuries, in partnership with the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art (INHA), the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie in Besançon and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Dijon.
Three exhibitions devoted to German painting in French collections will be held simultaneously in Besançon, Colmar and Dijon.
These exhibitions are the fruit of a research project aimed at identifying, studying and promoting Germanic paintings from the Middle Ages and Renaissance preserved in France (museums, churches, official buildings, etc.). These works were produced between 1300 and 1550 in what is now Germany, Austria, northern Switzerland and Alsace (the geographical area that formed part of the Holy Roman Empire).
Painting in the Upper Rhine in the 15th and 16th centuries The Musée Unterlinden’s collection of early paintings mainly illustrates art in Colmar. Thanks to generous loans from museums and churches, this exhibition will in a broader context, that of painting in the the Upper
Rhine. It will present the development of this painting and will offer comparisons between the artistic centres of Haguenau, Strasbourg, Sélestat, Colmar and Basel. Prior to this stylistic and chronological section, the exhibition will answer the many questions that today’s visitors may have about the production of these works and their final uses. How were paintings produced in the 15th and 16th centuries? What functions did these paintings, now considered works of art, serve? What was the nature of the relationship between the painters and their patrons ?