Cover image:  Advertisement for de toutes beautés at the Louvre
© Entrée to Black Paris

Last week, Tom and I set off for the Louvre in anticipation of seeing some of the "more than a hundred different works in the museum’s collections" that the Louvre advertised as being part of the de toutes beautés exhibition it curated in collaboration with L'Oréal. 

Our curiosity about the show was piqued when we saw the graphic used to promote it.

"de toutes beautés!" at the Louvre
© Entrée to Black Paris

Upon arriving at the museum, we went directly to the kiosk where the advertisement is posted and scanned the QR code with the expectation that we'd be able to download a map of the show.  I was not able to access the pdf file, so we went to the entrance of the Sully wing (which was closest to the kiosk) and asked for directions.

The ticket scanner told us that we would find the exhibition on the first floor.

Entrance to Sully Wing
© Entrée to Black Paris

When we arrived there, we found no signage about the show and had difficulty finding staff people to ask about it.

Surprisingly, no one knew about the exhibition and therefore could not direct us to it.

A couple of staff members thought we were talking about the France Couture exhibition and endeavored to direct us there.

When I pulled out my phone to show an image of the advertising graphic to the third staff person we approached, I discovered that the pdf file from the QR code was finally accessible.  I showed the page to the staff person, and she confirmed that she did not know anything about the show.

That's when I learned that the exhibition works are not assembled into a single space.  Rather, they remain in their original locations, and it is up to the visitor to walk through the museum to find them.

The works are found on all four levels (-1, 0, 1, and 2) and in all three wings (Denon, Sully, and Richelieu) of the museum.

According to the pdf file, there are far fewer works in the exhibition than the "more than a hundred" that the Louvre mentions on the promotional page for the show.

There are 44, to be exact.

Of these, only two present Black figures: (Presumed) Portrait of Madeleine (Portrait présume de Madeleine) by Marie-Guillemine Benoist and The Turkish Bath (Le Bain Turc) by Ingres. 

Both are in the Sully wing on Level 2.

Monique and Portrait présumé de Madeleine
Marie-Guillemine Benoist
1800 Oil on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le bain turc
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
1862 Oil on canvas mounted on board
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le bain turc (détails)
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
1862 Oil on canvas mounted on board
© Entrée to Black Paris

(These two works are included in our Black Images in European Art at the Louvre tour.)

In traipsing around the Sully wing to try to find the exhibition, we came across a couple of beautiful sculpted fragments representing the heads of Black men (Salle des Bronzes Grecs) and an image of a Black woman in a painting called La Génie de la France anime les Arts, protège l'Humanité on the ceiling of the 9e Salle du Musée Charles V.

Tête d'un homme noir 1
525-475 BC Terra cotta
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tête d'un homme noir 2
525-475 BC Terra cotta
© Entrée to Black Paris

La Génie de la France anime les Arts, protège l'Humanité
Baron Antoine-Jean Gros
1830-1833 Oil on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

La Génie de la France anime les Arts, protège l'Humanité (détail)
Baron Antoine-Jean Gros
1830-1833 Oil on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

(These works are not included in our Black Images in European Art at the Louvre tour.)

If you intend to see everything in de toutes beautés, be prepared for a marathon walk!

Find the pdf file, with a small image of each work and its location, HERE.