As part of the popular culture of Andalusia, flamenco - combining song, dance and guitar - is at the heart of Spanish modernity, the crossroads of all avant-garde artistic movements: Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism and Constructivism. Each of these movements appropriated Spanish motifs and created their own compositions incorporating rhythm, dance and music, inspired by flamenco.

The exhibition attempts to show the relationship between this popular art form and the avant-garde artistic movements between 1865 and 1936, highlighting the mutual influences and crossover points.

Flamenco brings together both the elite and popular culture in the construction of an ambivalent Spanish image built around not only the themes of festivals, beauty and national identity, but also the night, excess, misery and death.

The exhibition setting shows the public over 150 exhibits (paintings, sculptures, engravings, clothing and photography) from over 60 artists, showing the emotive force of flamenco. Courbet, Manet, Degas, Picasso, Miro, Delaunay, Picabia, Man Ray, Sargent and Sorolla are all present, and help illustrate how Spanish identity is present in both popular and experimental artistic forms.

Many documentaries will also be shown to complete the presentation.

In addition to the exhibition itself, there will also be performances of flamenco: inside the museum between midday and early evening on 15th ,16th and 17th July, and the 7th, 8th & 9th August, and in the garden (dates not given) to the sound of contemporary music or simply silence... Other activities are available to children. Check the official site here.
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Joaquin Sorolla Bastida - Bailaora Flamenca,1914, huile sur toile, Museo Sorolla, Madrid. © Ministerio de Cultura

Here's all the essential information for the Flamenco exhibition at the Petit Palais

When: 5th July - 31st August 2008
Where: Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Avenue Winston Churchill – Paris 8th arrondissement. Metro: Champs Elysées-Clemenceau (lines 1 & 13). Bus n°s 42,72, 73, 80, 93
Opening hours: 10am - 6pm. Closed Mondays and public holidays
Admission price: the main museum is free, temporary exhibitions cost 7.5 euros for adults, 5 euros for concessions


Bigger map here
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