A temporary exhibition at the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris traces the history of the Atomic Age, which proved to be a fertile breeding ground for the arts.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, released in 2023, has opened up the field of exploration for all those exhibitions that are increasingly organized around the imaginary atom. All the more so since three quarters of a century have already passed since the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan in 1945, changing the destiny of mankind. The Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (MAM) invites us to revisit the history of modernity in the 20th century with The Atomic Age and its impact on collective imagery and memory, bringing together nearly 250 works (paintings, drawings, photographs, videos and installations).

FROM NEUTRALITY TO SPECTACULARIZATION

"L'Âge atomique : Les artistes à l'épreuve de l'histoire" (The Atomic Age: artists put history to the test) is the first exhibition of its kind to showcase the diverse visions of these great representatives of the arts in the face of scientific advances and the controversies that ensued.
From the disintegration of matter to the atomic bomb and the nuclearization of the world, MAM invites us to discover a wealth of representative works, curated by Julia Garimorth, the museum's chief curator, and Maria Stavrinaki, professor of contemporary art history at the University of Lausanne.
Some creative works reflect our relationship with technology, while others create utopian images of an atomically-powered future or, on the contrary, depict an apocalyptic scene in the form of an immense mushroom.

CHANGING ATTITUDES

The tour thus offers multiple readings of more than a hundred great names, including Vassily Kandinsky, Francis Bacon, Pierre Huyghe, Jackson Pollock, Salvador Dalí, Bruce Conner, László Moholy-Nagy, Le Corbusier, Hélène de Beauvoir, Barnett Newman, Thomas Schütte...
The co-curators take their reflection a step further, linking works that probe the repercussions of American imperialism and Communist bloc propaganda, as well as early representations of Japan between realism and surrealism.
In the wake of the Chernobyl tragedy in 1986, consciences are changing. While commitment became more ecological and political, the living world took center stage in artistic concerns, thanks to pacifist, anti-nuclear, counter-cultural, feminist and anti-colonial movements, which spoke out against nuclear production.

This exhibition thus offers an interesting journey through history, in which art, science and politics have become inseparable and increasingly involved in current debates.

" L'ÂGE ATOMIQUE: LES ARTISTES À L'ÉPREUVE DE L'HISTOIRE"
MUSÉE D'ART MODERNE DE PARIS
11, AVENUE DU PRÉSIDENT-WILSON, PARIS 16E
FROM OCTOBER 11 2024 TO FEBRUARY 9 2025
MAM.PARIS.FR