Exposition “De rêve et de lumière”

Antiquity according to Émile-René Ménard (1862-1930)

To speak of the work of Émile-René Ménard is necessarily to speak of Antiquity. The work of this polymorphous artist linked to Symbolism is deeply marked by the seal of Antiquity, an Antiquity admired, dreamed, lost.

A particular link connects him to Camille Corot, whom Émile-René must have met in his childhood, because of the proximity between the artist and his father. Louis Menard, Emile-René's uncle, chemist, poet and philosopher, also passed on to him his taste for Greek culture and civilization. This fascination for Greece, its culture, its vestiges, its religion, will deeply mark the young Emile-René, who will not cease to find this lost Antiquity, last Eden of the humanity before the exit of the golden age.

Émile-René Ménard elaborates an original drawn and painted work where the subjects inspired by classical antiquity are staged in an idyllic setting, where harmony reigns between man and nature. This nature, wild but beautiful, majestic and silent, is an incarnation of the Sublime. The serenity that emerges from these ancient scenes, magnified by the magic of the ruins and an undeniable poetry in the use of the palette, is an invitation to travel, to delight, to dream and to meditate.
Ode to the harmony between man and his environment, the work of Menard is like a perpetual return to the idyllic land of Arcadia. It resounds in a particular way in our time in search of harmony and ancient serenity...

Curator : Alexandre ESTAQUET-LEGRAND, curator of the heritage, Véronique WILCZYNSKILAURENT, in charge of collections (MUDO ? Musée de l?Oise)