Museum PR Announcements News and Information

Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany Opens Napoleon and Europe Dream and Trauma

The Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany presents Napoleon and Europe Dream and Trauma open 17 December 2010 – 25 April 2011.

During the near-twenty-year span of his reign, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821), more than any other historical figure since Charlemagne, revolutionised the political, social and cultural landscape of Europe and wrought changes that can be felt to this day – both positively and negatively. Napoleon was seen as a strangely paradoxical figure even by his contemporaries: His empire was an uncontested model of a modern efficient state based on republican values, yet while the arts propagated a carefully constructed image of power and glory, Napoleon’s incessant wars traumatised France and her neighbours and set a chilling example of an inhuman military apparatus.

The exhibition at the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn is the first to shed light on the positive and negative effects of Napoleon’s power politics and on their reception across Europe. Staying clear of well-worn clichés that paint Napoleon as a warmonger or a larger than life political genius, the exhibition aims to draw a more differentiated picture of the Napoleonic era between war, politics, administration, art theft and cultural prosperity.

Curator: Bénédicte Savoy, Berlin Exhibition management: Angelica Francke

The exhibition is held under the patronage of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The exhibition was planned by the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, Bonn, in cooperation with the Musée de l’Armée in Paris and will be shown in Paris from March to June 2012.

www.bundeskunsthalle.de

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *