QUEBEC CITY.- This summer, the works of one of the world’s greatest museums are coming to you. From June 5 to October 26, marvel at the breathtaking world of the Louvre in the international exhibition The Louvre in Québec: The Arts and Life. Designed by the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, with the exceptional collaboration of the Musée du Louvre, this impressive showing highlights Québec City’s 400th anniversary and the MNBAQ’s 75 years.

Take advantage of this unprecedented rendezvous with the Parisian institution’s prestigious collections to discover awe-inspiring pieces. Embark on a captivating voyage spanning 5 000 years of history and civilization, highlighting the countless ties between the arts and human lives throughout the ages. From Pharaonic Egypt to the Age of Enlightenment via Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, the Islamic Orient and European Middle Ages, admire 274 major works tracing the great human adventure. Paintings, drawings, engravings, marble sculptures, jewellery, terra cotta and clay objects, architectural ceramics, ivory boxes… rare and valuable pieces shown side by side in a dazzling layout.

Visitors will enjoy a veritable visual theatre through original staging creating dialogues between works from the Musée du Louvre’s eight departments: Egyptian Antiquity, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquity, Oriental Antiquity, the Islamic Arts, Art Objects, Sculptures, Paintings and Graphic Arts. "The emotional impact generated by this showing will, no doubt, be staggering as we gaze on works that breathe, communicate, radiate and inspire." explains MNBAQ Executive Director John R. Porter.

This impressive corpus will be accompanied by a tactile gallery designed by the Louvre and allowing visitors to view and handle some fifteen moulds illustrating various interpretations of famous ancient sculptures such as the Venus de Milo and Borghese Galdiator along with a presentation of work done on Leonardo de Vinci’s Mona Lisa by the National Research Council of Canada at the request of the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France.

"In February 2003, we agreed on an exemplary form of collaboration between our two museums to highlight Québec City’s 400th anniversary and the 75th anniversary of its art museum, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. Five years later, 274 works and art objects from the Louvre’s eight departments have been assembled in an innovative exhibition organized by the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. It is our hope that The Louvre in Québec: The Arts and Life will delight and astonish you through its cross-sectional character and the quality and variety of its component elements."

THE FOUR MAIN EXHIBITION THEMES
The theme "arts and life" offers an extraordinary opportunity to become acquainted with sometimes-ancient civilizations, through timeless behaviours still characterizing our daily lives: learning, celebration, love, death. The works selected are designed to help us examine and discover elements of history which would otherwise seem very distant. The magic of these pieces is evident in the great mastery of the artists and artisans that created them and in the surprising, often moving, stories underlying them. The showing invites visitors to truly "see with their heart".

Loving and Dying
An intentionally intimate approach has been taken to this theme, which explores love and death—those two fundamental aspects of the human life cycle. Love, which inspires gods and mortals, is depicted in images of the couple over millennia, from Pharaonic Egypt to modern Europe, via Greek Antiquity and the ancient Middle East. United also in death—the theme’s second facet—the couple is
portrayed in the funerary art of these different civilizations as an expression of the permanence of bonds of love… even in the hereafter.

Learning and Working
This theme addresses the transmission of knowledge and know-how, using the example of learning and practicing art in 17th-to-19th-century Europe. To illustrate this theme, portrayals of workshops and studios alternate with portraits of famous painters. Drawings are also showcased since they constitute a crucial stage in the artist’s work, both in painting and sculpture.

Dwelling and Decorating
The objects featured under this theme closely reflect man’s daily existence, which throughout the ages has focussed on his appearance and organizing and decorating his surroundings. Groups of works–primarily art objects–take us through the Bronze Age in the Middle East, Pharaonic Egypt and the Islam of empire-building sovereigns to Gothic Europe.

Celebrating and Enjoying
This theme is particularly à propos in the context of celebrating Québec City’s 400th anniversary. "Celebrating and Enjoying" highlights the many festive traditions marking various civilizations, from the Greek and Roman games to the dance, music and balls of 17th-, 18th- and 19th-century Europe.