Opening: Saturday, May 23, 2026, starting at 5 p.m.
Curators: Rémi Enguehard and Dominique Ghesquière

Haris Epaminonda, Pierre Paulin, Émilie Pitoiset, Erwin Wurm et Superflex from the collection of the Frac Île-de-France as well as the collections of the Musée d’art et d’histoire de Melun.

The exhibition brings together various facets of contemporary sculpture from the collections of the Frac Île-de-France with works and anecdotes from the life of sculptor Henri Chapu (1833–1891), winner of the Grand Prix de Rome in 1855. The collections of the Musée d’art et d’histoire de Melun allow us to trace the career of this official artist during the Impressionist era and, more broadly, the evolution of sculpture at the end of the 19th century.

These shifts in time challenge the notion of the unique work that classical and academic sculpture seems, at first glance, to embody. At that time, these works were thus reproduced and transposed into other materials, produced in multiple copies for sale amid the industrialization of production processes, or reappropriated and repurposed for what they symbolized, to the point of being reinterpreted beyond the sculptor’s original intentions. Henri Chapu’s La Jeunesse (1875) was thus reused as an allegorical figure without his consent on patriotic medals or used during commemorations illustrated by the patriotic press under the Third Republic. Models, sketches, commissions, molds, castings, engravings, prints, and protocols thus trace, from the 19th century to the present, the creative logic of a genre that began as a cornerstone of the fine arts and is now explored even in its performative dimension.

An exhibition presented by the Frac Île-de-France as part of its program Le Syndrome de Bonnard, ou l’impermanence des œuvres.   

Musée d’art et d’histoire de Melun
5 rue du Franc Mûrier 77000 Melun

Hours:
Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays
from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM

Open every first weekend of the month
Full price: €2 Reduced price: €1 / Free for visitors under 18