Musée de la Marine in Paris celebrates 400 years of French Navy with major painting exhibition

The Musée de la Marine in Paris, housed in the Palais de Chaillot at Trocadéro, is hosting the exhibition "La Marine & les peintres. Quatre siècles d'art et de pouvoir" until August 2, 2026, marking the 400th anniversary of the French Navy. The show features around 150 works by over 90 artists, tracing maritime painting from the 17th to the 20th century. Highlights include paintings by Claude Lorrain, Joseph Vernet, Théodore Gudin, Édouard Manet, Paul Signac, Albert Marquet, and others. The museum itself underwent a €72 million renovation by h2o Architectes and Snøhetta, reopening in November 2023 after being closed since 2017. It now offers interactive displays and addresses ecological issues. The exhibition chronologically and thematically explores how art served to glorify the navy and its leaders, from Louis XIII's commissioning of Richelieu to build a fleet to the present-day official title "Peintre Officiel de la Marine" (POM), held by 43 artists including photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Notable works include Joseph Vernet's 18th-century views of French ports (on loan from the Louvre) and Manet's "Clair de lune sur le port de Boulogne" (1869) from the Musée d'Orsay. The museum attracted 355,000 visitors in 2025.