Musée national de la Marine Marks 400th Anniversary with Exhibition on Art and Power

From May 13 to August 2, 2026, the Musée national de la Marine in Paris presents "La Marine et les peintres. Quatre siècles d’art et de pouvoir" (The Navy and the Painters: Four Centuries of Art and Power). Organized for the 400th anniversary of the French Navy, the exhibition features nearly 150 works by over 90 artists, spanning the 17th to 20th centuries. It explores the relationship between artistic creation, power, and maritime imagery, tracing the evolution of naval painting from the reign of Louis XIII to modern visions. The show includes works by Claude Gellée (Le Lorrain), Joseph Vernet, Théodore Gudin, Antoine-Léon de Morel-Fatio, Édouard Manet, Félix Ziem, Paul Signac, Albert Marquet, Mathurin Méheut, and Marin-Marie. The exhibition examines how artists served the monarchy, became official painters of the Navy (a status formalized in 1830 and 1920), and shaped public perception of naval history. Dense hangings and large immersive formats are used to convey the genre's diversity, from picturesque scenes to historical dramas.