Méditerranées - Inventions et représentations

The Mucem’s new permanent exhibition: a journey through the imagined worlds of the Mediterranean, from Antiquity to the present day. Collections, masterpieces and contemporary works come together to tell multiple, constantly evolving stories.

This permanent exhibition unfolds in several episodes, intended to renew its presentation through to 2030: “Méditerranées” will be regularly enriched with new masterpieces from art history, new collection treasures and new rare pieces, recently acquired or loaned, opening up new paths and new horizons for embracing these Mediterraneans. Indeed, the imagined worlds of the Mediterranean are multiple, and they cannot all be shown in a single exhibition. “Méditerranées” examines how these imagined worlds were formed and disseminated, particularly the role of museums, by exploring how art history and ethnology contributed to creating “images” of the Mediterranean, all relative and all constructed.

In fine-arts museums, it is the civilizations of the past, particularly those of Antiquity, that are first highlighted, constructing a dreamed-of Mediterranean nourished by Homer’s Odyssey, Greek temples, and stories of Rome and Palmyra.

Ethnographic museums, which emerged during the colonial period, focus instead on societies that are geographically or culturally “distant.” The sincerity of their scientific and human interest in the Other exists alongside the interests and enterprises of the colonial powers.

The distinction between fine-arts museums and ethnographic museums created boundaries between the objects they preserve and the disciplines that study them. The Mucem now seeks to move beyond these boundaries and highlight the parallels and mutual influences between these two types of museum. Following this idea, “Méditerranées” combines different historical museographic models, from the dense displays of late-18th- and 19th-century fine-arts museums to the various forms of presentation used throughout history by ethnographic museums.