The Museum of Fine Arts of Angers presents until January 8, 2023 an exhibition dedicated to Jules-Eugène Lenepveu (1819 - 1898). First Prize in Rome in 1847 with his painting "The Death of Vitellius", he directed the Villa Medici from 1873 to 1878. As famous during his lifetime as he has fallen into unjust oblivion today, Lenepveu, an exact contemporary of Courbet, remained faithful to the allegorical themes as depicted on the ceiling of the Paris Opera, before it was covered by the work of Marc Chagall in 1964.
Born in Angers, this tall, shy, somewhat gloomy man found it difficult to show off to the point that Charles Garnier thought he looked like "wood, iron, hardened rubber".
A living antithesis of the Impressionists, Lenepveu advocated strict compliance with academic rules and many of his works have unfortunately disappeared.
Opéra Garnier à Paris. A gauche, le plafond de Lenepveu, à droite celui de Marc Chagall qui l'a recouvert
As if fate had not intended them to be simply destroyed, they were rec
open like the ceiling of the Opéra Garnier or the Daru staircase at the Louvre, or even partly hidden from public view, like the cycle dedicated to Joan of Arc at the Panthéon, which is found behind the sculptures that Anselme Kiefer dedicated to the dead of the Great War.
The exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Angers brings together 280 canvases, cartoons or drawings by the artist.
14 Rue du Musée
49100 Angers
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