Dahesh Museum Opens French Artists in Rome Exhibition Celebrating Villa Medici Bicentennial

The Dahesh Museum of Art inaugurated its new location at 580 Madison Avenue in New York with French Artists in Rome: Ingres to Degas, 1803-1873, running from September 3 to November 2, 2003. Organized by the French Academy in Rome, this exhibition marks the bicentennial of the Academy's move to the Villa Medici in 1803. It features 130 paintings and sculptures by Prix de Rome winners and other artists who worked in Rome during that period. Notable works include pieces by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Théodore Géricault, Edgar Degas, and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, alongside artists like Adolphe-William Bouguereau, Alexandre Cabanel, and Gustave Moreau. The exhibition highlights the French Academy's influence from its founding in 1648 and its Rome outpost established in 1666, showcasing academic art's role in 19th-century tastes. Critiques note the contrast between technical precision and expressive depth, with Géricault's The Old Italian Woman praised for its visual intelligence. The Dahesh Museum, dedicated to 19th and early 20th-century academic art since 1995, positions this show as part of its mission to explore historical artistic conventions.