Musée d'Orsay

150 years ago, on April 15, 1874, the first impressionist exhibition opened in Paris. "Hungry for independence", Monet, Renoir, Degas, Morisot, Pissarro, Sisley and Cézanne finally decided to free themselves from the rules by holding their own exhibition, outside official channels: impressionism was born. To celebrate this anniversary, Musée d'Orsay is presenting some 130 works and bringing a fresh eye to bear on this key date, regarded as the day that launched the avant-gardes. What exactly happened in Paris in that spring of 1874, and what sense should we make today of an exhibition that has become legendary? "Paris 1874. The Impressionist Moment" seeks to trace the advent of an artistic movement that emerged in a rapidly changing world.

Diligently frequenting the collections of the Musée d'Orsay since childhood, the Franco-Israeli artist Nathanaëlle Herbelin is invited to put her paintings and her sources of inspiration into perspective. Heiress to the Nabis family, the artist brings their favorite subjects up to date - daily life, domestic interiors and intimacy, in compositions which are no less resolutely contemporary.