A look at major painting exhibitions: Manet / Degas at the Musée d'Orsay

French

Lecture by ISOLDE PLUDERMACHER
General Curator of Paintings at the Musée d'Orsay

Édouard Manet (1832-1883) and Edgar Degas (1834-1917) were two key figures in the new painting of the 1860s-1880s. In a single exhibition, the Musée d'Orsay has brought the two painters together in the light of their contrasts, inviting us to take a fresh look at their real complicity. It shows the heterogeneous and conflicting aspects of pictorial modernity, and reveals the value of the Degas collection, where Manet took on a greater role after his death.

About Isolde Pludermacher

Isolde Pludermacher is general curator of painting at the Musée d'Orsay. Her research focuses on the second half of the 19th century, in particular Courbet, Boudin, the birth of Impressionism, Manet and Degas. She curated the exhibitions Splendeurs et misères. Images de la prostitution au XIXe siècle" (Paris, Musée d'Orsay and Amsterdam, Musée Van Gogh, 2015), "Le modèle noir, de Géricault à Matisse" (Paris, Musée d'Orsay, 2019) and "Manet / Degas" (Paris, Musée d'Orsay and New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2023-2024).