Exhibition : Satyrs, don’t get too serious !

Forget impeccable heroes and grim-faced gods : this year, the museum is taking you on a journey to mythology’s merry troublemakers ! Between two vine branches on ancient vases – especially those from Athens and Lezoux – appear creatures as unruly as they are irresistible : satyrs – called fauns in Roman times.

Forget impeccable heroes and grim-faced gods : this year, the museum is taking you on a journey to mythology’s merry troublemakers ! Between two vine branches on ancient vases – especially those from Athens and Lezoux – appear creatures as unruly as they are irresistible : satyrs – called fauns in Roman times.

Conceived in partnership with the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), the exhibition showcases these half-man, half-beast beings, experts in mischief and surprises : musicians, dancers or improvised acrobats, they embody a vitality brimming with mischief, lechery and even debauchery. Sometimes downright invasive, they blur the boundary between human and animal… and hold up a mocking mirror to us. Behind their grimaces and excesses also lurks a form of truth : that of an unvarnished nature, stripped of the artifices of civilization.

No wonder they inspired generations of craftsmen and makers of drinking vessels, from archaic and classical Greece (6th-4th centuries BC) to Roman Gaul (1st-5th centuries AD). Satyrs follow Dionysus/Bacchus, god of wine and banqueting : where there’s drinking, singing, dancing… and skidding, they’re never far away.

Thanks to exceptional loans from the BnF (vases, bronzes, architectural decors) and the museum’s collections, the exhibition paints a delightful portrait of these champions of excess : playful, unbridled, sometimes embarrassing, often funny – and ultimately, terribly human.

* To prolong the adventure, a cultural and mediation program will invite all audiences to join in the dance :

– Features for young audiences
An original mascot, created by Philippe Larbier and Christophe Cazenove, authors of the comic strip Les Petits Mythos, will guide the youngest visitors throughout the tour.
Games, a fun booklet and Ô musée de l’été workshops on myths and know-how will help them discover the exhibition in a fun, interactive way.

– Arché Ô conferences
Exhibition curators Louise Détrez, curator at BnF, and Sarah Busschaert, museum curator, invite you to meet these amazing satyrs during a guided tour of the exhibition. The tour will be followed by a convivial moment of discussion.
Sunday June 7, 3 :30 p.m. – Duration : 1 h 30.
Open to the general public, subject to availability. Free admission.

– Flash tour of the exhibition
From July, Fridays at 2 pm
No reservation required.

*Exceptionally, open until 4 :30 pm on June 5 only.

For the full program, follow the museum news.