Of Toys and Men presents a history of toys in the Western world and spotlights their importance in children’s education right from birth.

It looks at the ambiguous relationship that children foster with their miniature version of the grown-up world. How do they come to grips with this child-sized reality, inevitably designed by adults? How have archetypal dolls, cars or toy soldiers changed over the years? What has stayed constant and what has evolved? Have children always dreamed of being firemen or schoolmarms?
All these questions focus on toys – rather than games, which imply rules – and the exhibition tries to answer them in a scientific, yet sensitive way.

The exhibition has been organized jointly with the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, which has one of the biggest toy collections in Europe. Interesting exhibits have come from other prestigious French or international cultural institutions, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London, the Toy Museum, in Nuremberg or the Strong National Museum of Play, in Rochester, USA, as well as from many private collections throughout Europe.

Whether they are mass-produced or crafted by famous artists such as Alexander Calder, Felix Garcia Torres or Benjamin Rabier, whether they are exceptional pieces or much-loved favorites, these toys teach us directly or indirectly about the world, its changes and history.

The exhibits are supported by a wide range of paintings, posters, sculptures, films, videogames and clips.

While many of the public buildings of the Roman Empire – its theatres, amphitheatres, baths and temples – have survived, and often in good condition, its private homes have all but disappeared, leaving only the occasional and very fragmentary vestige. This makes the condition of the houses buried under the ash of Vesuvius in 79AD all the more astonishing.

They bear vivid witness to the remarkable modernity of urban life in Campania at the time, whether by their amenities (running water, heating, sewerage, integrated gardens) or by their utensils and objects.

This exhibition takes visitors into a typical domus pompeiana, guiding you through the main rooms of Pompeian home: the atrium, the triclinium and the culina, the peristyle around the garden, the balneum and the venereum. These are furnished and decorated with two-hundred pieces from Pompeii and other sites around Vesuvius.

The Centre Pompidou presents "Edvard Munch, l'oeil moderne" [Edvard Munch, the modern eye], a collection of about eighty paintings, thirty artworks done on paper, fifty photographs and a film.

Showing the work of the famous Norwegian painter (1853-1944) in a different light, this exhibition shows how much the artist's curiosity for all of the forms of representation of his era fuelled his inspiration and his work. His experience of photography, cinema, his readings of the illustrated press and even his work for the theatre profoundly influenced his work, the brilliant modernity of which the exhibition reveals.

The exhibition presents nearly 25 major works by Fra Angelico and a similar number of panels painted by some of his prestigious contemporaries, such as Lorenzo Monaco, Masolino, Paolo Uccello, Filippo Lippi and Zanobi Strozzi.

Fra Angelico (1387-1455) was a major player in Florence’s artistic and cultural revolution at the beginning of the 15th century. His work combines the golden lustre inherited from Gothic style with a new understanding of perspective. He initiated the artistic movement which specialists have named the “Peintres de la Lumière” (painters of light).

Fra Angelico was a pupil of Lorenzo Monaco and, like him, a monk. He learned his art in Florence, a city saturated with the International Gothic style. This refined style, which combined influences from Northern Europe and Italy, inspired Fra Angelico to create works with deep spiritual meaning.

Fra Angelico’s choice of subjects conformed to the religious pictorial tradition, but he reinterpreted these subjects throughout his career. For example, his many variations on the theme of the Humble Virgin demonstrate his ability to integrate daring stylistic innovations promoted by supporters of the new artistic movement. He was fully aware of the innovations of the Masters of his time, such as Masolino and Uccello, whose work featured a more realistic representation of the world with a focus on the human figure and a new mastery of the rules of perspective.

Although Fra Angelico adopted these new ideas into his work, he stayed faithful to the principles of medieval religious paintings: his works retained a didactic function, strengthened by the mystical force he attributes to light. At the heart of the first Florentine Renaissance, which marked a turning point in European art, Fra Angelico had an important and unique place, thanks to his “rare and perfect talent” (Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Artists).

The Steins, an American family, moved to Paris in the early 20th century: Gertrude, an avant-garde writer, set up house with her brother Leo, in the rue de Fleurus; her elder brother Michael took a flat with his wife Sarah in the rue Madame.

They were the first people to buy Matisses and Picassos and they also received the entire avant-garde into their homes and thus built up one of the most astonishing collections of modern art. The exhibition looks at the history of this out-of-the-ordinary family. It shows how important its patronage was for the artists and how it helped establish a new standard of taste in modern art, through Leo’s view of the sources of modernity and his exchanges with the intellectuals of the time; Gertrude’s friendship with Picasso; Sarah’s relations with Matisse; and the projects that Gertrude developed with artists in the 20s and 30s.

It is a major exhibition bringing together an outstanding ensemble of works from the Steins’ various collections: Renoir, Cézanne, Picasso, Matisse, Manguin, Bonnard, Vallotton, Laurencin, Gris, Masson, Picabia…. The eight sections shed light on all the members of the family: Leo, Sarah and Michael, and Gertrude.

The Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris takes you right to the centre of Parisian social life in the 19th century through the works of Honoré Daumier (1808-1879). Daumier – the French engraver, caricaturist, painter and sculptor – is a mythical figure in the Parisian imagination. Through his art tinged with humour and tenderness, he casts a picturesque, amusing, frightening and tragic light on these "little people" in the streets of the capital. Join him as you delve into the world of the rag-and-bone men, seasonal migrant workers lodging in let rooms, workers in the inner suburbs, ruffians from thugland and their Casque d’Or affair, grisettes, taverns at the barriers, cabaret, accordion dances on the rue de Lappe etc.

The townhouse is a key part of Paris’s architectural character and we can trace the story of the capital by studying the development of the townhouse in different districts of the city.

The Parisian town house made its first appearance in the Middle Ages and became more popular during the 16th century when, thanks to François I, Paris again became the political capital where the monarchic state assembled and settled. It was important to be at court, near the King, and, therefore, at Paris. This golden age continued throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

The last of the townhouses were built in the period between the two world wars, marking the end of a long history, but they still exist in today’s 21st century Paris and are very much in use : museums, embassies, ministries ...

This exhibition aims to explore this history and takes the visitor on three complementary and illuminating journeys, in a bid to discover the secret of the Parisian town house.

The first section features a small reconstructed townhouse, between garden and courtyard, with different authentically decorated rooms for the visitor to explore. In this way, each visitor can enjoy a sense of familiarity with, and ownership of, the building. The building is not an exact replica of an existing townhouse but aims rather to convey a general impression, an overall picture, with each “external” and internal space specifically designed for educational purposes.

In the second section of the exhibition, the visitor will take a journey through the history of the townhouse, this time organized chronologically, from the Middle Ages to the Belle Epoque. This part of the exhibition, displayed in a vast open space, presents a series of large models of townhouses, specifically chosen for their distinctive characteristics - hôtels de Cluny, Lambert, Thélusson and finally the Palais-Rose (these last two buildings no longer exist - complete with an interactive terminal with wonderfully illustrated information on some 300 town houses.

The last section offers themed reading, examining the Parisian hotel as an architectural object. Three "alcoves" will be devoted to the relationship between the city and the townhouse - a relationship which was both passionate and destructive. A further three sections allow the visitor to explore the external architecture of the townhouse (façades overlooking gardens and courtyards), its interior décor, gardens and finally internal layout. To complete the display, there is a multi-touch screen on the layout and organization of the townhouse, presented in a fun way.

Cézanne did not only paint Provençal scenes. In the course of twenty trips to Paris, the artist learned a style of painting that he would continue to develop in Provence, attracting interest and praise from critics, art dealers and collectors. The 80 works in this exhibition provide insight into the southern painter’s time in Paris.

The first section describes his arrival in Paris, his training in the city and early paintings, taking a close look at his mastery of landscape painting and use of Impressionist techniques. It goes on to explore Cézanne's nudes. Working at a time when erotic paintings were becoming increasingly popular, he experimented with new ways to portray female nudes and invented his particular pictorial representation of them.

Still lifes also make up a significant portion of Cézanne’s work, and the exhibition spotlights the way he creates space and depth of perspective, and his masterly use of colour and shapes in his depictions of objects as well as his portraits and erotic paintings.

The exhibition presents two visions of Spain: Black Spain, with Zuloaga and Solana as its major representatives, and White Spain idealised by Sorolla's luminous, shimmering palette. Taking these two different sensibilities and the proliferation of artistic movements that appeared one after another at the dawn of the 20th century, the exhibition demonstrates how constant contact with Paris, the capital of New Painting, led the majority of these artists to adopt new idioms, while still remaining the heirs to El Greco, Ribera and Goya, and retaining part of their Hispanic identity.

Through almost 500 works, including several on display for the first time, journey through the history of ancient Macedonia from the 15th century BC until the period of the Roman Empire.

The exhibition in particular analyzes the rising power of the kingdom of Macedonia under Roman rule faced with the Greek city-states.

Explore in chronological order this fascinating history illustrated by complete funeral collections. Discover the many aspects of Macedonian civilization such as artistic output, the organization of the kingdom, education, the world of men and women, religion and death.

Before the last part, go behind the mystery of the genesis of Alexander’s legend…