High partners with the Louvre to bring Tuileries Garden exhibition to U.S.

A major exhibition that explores the art, design and evolution of Paris’ beloved Tuileries Garden and its impact on artists through time will premiere at the High Museum of Art in November 2013. “The Louvre and the Tuileries Garden” will feature more than 100 works, some of which have never been seen outside of France.

Works will include large-scale sculptures from the garden that were created in the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries by artists including François-Joseph Bosio, Antoine Coysevox, and Aristide Maillol, and paintings, photographs, and drawings that depict the Tuileries. The exhibition will also explore how the 63-acre garden influenced and inspired works by painters such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Childe Hassam and photographers such as Eugène Atget, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and André Kertész.

“The Louvre and the Tuileries Garden” is co-organized by the High, the Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, and the Portland Art Museum, Oregon, with the exceptional collaboration of the Louvre. Following its presentation in Atlanta (Nov. 2013–Jan. 2014), the exhibition will travel to Toledo (Feb.–May 2014) and Portland (June–Sept. 2014).

“The Louvre and the Tuileries Garden” will examine how the Tuileries, which extends from the Louvre to the Place de la Concorde, evolved from its beginnings as an outdoor museum for French royalty to its role as one of the first public gardens in Europe, after which it served as both subject and inspiration for artists working in Paris.

Presented on the occasion of the 400th birthday of André Le Nôtre (1613-1700), “The Louvre and the Tuileries Garden” also celebrates the man who was commissioned by Louis XIV in 1664 to expand and transform the Tuileries into a formal French garden. One of the first public gardens in Europe, the Tuileries Garden was originally created in 1564 by Catherine de Medici as the garden for the Tuileries Palace, which no longer exists. Each monarch who lived in the palace left his own indelible mark on the Tuileries. Under the reign of Louis XV, the garden became known for its monumental outdoor sculpture collection, which the king commissioned. In 1667, just three years after Le Nôtre was hired, the Tuileries Garden became Paris’ first public park. The garden is still open to the public today. 

“Serving as an inspiration for artists, architects and urban planners, the Tuileries Garden is one of the world’s most beloved but under-recognized masterpieces,” Michael E. Shapiro, the High’s Nancy and Holcombe T. Green, Jr., Director, said in a statement. “As one of the earliest urban green spaces and public parks, the Tuileries has been the model for formal public gardens in the U.S. and worldwide. This exhibition gives us a chance to tell an exciting story about the relationship between art, gardens, artists and the public.”

“The Tuileries Garden is a French treasure and we are delighted to once again partner with the High in order to share our collections with American audiences," Henri Loyrette, president and director of the Louvre, said in a statement. “This exhibition will be part of a series of programs celebrating André Le Nôtre and his lasting contributions to gardens throughout France and his influence on garden design worldwide. By collaborating with Portland and Toledo, we expand our relationships with U.S. museum partners and make it possible for more visitors to see these works.”

and the musée du Louvre have a long history of collaboration dating back to 1998. From 2006 to 2009, the Louvre and High participated in a collection-sharing initiative called “Louvre Atlanta” that included a series of thematic exhibitions and the development of joint publications and other collaborative scholarship.

The High welcomed more than 1 million visitors to these exhibitions, of which approximately 20 percent were schoolchildren. The “Louvre Atlanta” partnership grew out of a longstanding friendship and history of exchange between the institutions’ directors, Michael Shapiro and Henri Loyrette. In Dec. 2011, the High, the Louvre, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and the Terra Foundation for American Art launched a four-year collaboration devoted to producing programming and annual, focused installations of American and European art. The first exhibition, “American Encounters: Thomas Cole and the Narrative Landscape” opened at the Louvre in January 2012 and will be on view at the High from September 2012 through January 2013.