Art is in the Street. Toulouse-Lautrec, Chéret, Mucha…(English version)

The Musée d'Orsay presents the rise of the artistic poster at the end of the 19th century in Paris. Walls, hoardings, kiosks, Morris columns, urinals and the metro became the backdrops for a new visual universe that sought to catch the eye of passers-by.

Transformed by the great Haussmannian works, cleaned up and equipped, the ‘modern’ street also became a place for political expression and social demands. Favoured by technical advances, notably the introduction of chromolithography, the burgeoning consumer society and the emergence of department stores, the poster was a field gradually taken over by great artists such as Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, Jules Chéret, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Alfons Mucha and Félix Vallotton. As a place to live, an object of representation and an exhibition space, the street was a focal point for all the aesthetic, political and social changes at work at the turn of the century.

Exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay, 18 March to 6 July 2025