Image: musée d'Art contemporain du Val-de-Marne
The MAC VAL in Vitry-sur-Seine is highlighting 'Le genre idéal', a collection display that takes as its starting point the historical hierarchy of genres in painting. Presented through works from the museum’s collection, the exhibition approaches the topic with what the museum describes as a playful perspective, moving through the five genres that made up the traditional academic ranking: history painting, portraiture, genre scene, landscape and still life.
The display is part of a broader summer programme at the museum, which remains open to the public throughout the season. In its newsletter, MAC VAL says that visitors can also encounter outdoor creative workshops, movement-based visits for children and adults, and the summer installation 'La cabane d’été' in the museum garden. The museum also notes that its restaurant, 'Le monde marche', is open during July and August on its tree-lined terrace or indoors.
'Le genre idéal' uses works from the MAC VAL collection to revisit the way pictorial subjects have been ranked and classified. Rather than presenting the hierarchy as a fixed art-historical system, the exhibition frames it as a theme to be explored from several angles, with the museum promising an accessible route through categories that once structured the theory and teaching of painting. The show is one of several exhibitions and displays currently being promoted by the institution, alongside 'Ici grand ouvert', an exhibition by SMITH, and 'Tu hurles quelque chose à la mode', an exhibition by Fabienne Gaston-Dreyfus.
The museum is also drawing attention to a late addition to 'Le genre idéal': 'Le Plancher de Jeannot', a work by Jean Crampilh-Broucaret, which has joined the section 'Les heures...' following a recent rotation within the display. According to the museum, the piece is being shown thanks to an exceptional loan from the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de l’Hôpital Sainte-Anne in Paris. The newsletter describes the work as a major piece of outsider art and says it is mysterious as well as fascinating.
Around the exhibition, MAC VAL is offering a series of public programmes that build on the collection display without being part of the show itself. These include 'Le genre idéal ?!', a danced lecture on Sunday 5 July at 3 pm with Iris Medeiros, a choreographer and lecture-performer at the museum, as well as family visits held on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays in July and August. On selected Wednesdays, those family visits change format for a 'Visite en mouvement' or an architecture route.
The museum’s summer schedule also includes activities for children and families such as 'Parcours des petits créateurs', aimed at children from age 3, and 'Bébés au MAC VAL', a visit designed for parents and babies on Wednesday 5 August from 10 to 11 am. Under the heading 'Les rendez-vous au jardin', the museum says the new space 'La cabane d’été', conceived by artist Vincent Capmartin, will be open from 11 July, Tuesday to Sunday from 11 am to 5:30 pm, with supervised experiments on Saturdays and Sundays from 3:30 pm. MAC VAL is located at 1 place de la Libération in Vitry-sur-Seine and is open Tuesday to Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm.
