The title explains most of the subject: this new exhibition shows two centuries of art, starting in 179 when  Louis-Michel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau lobbied for the death penalty to be abolished, and stops at 30th September 1981, the day onwhich the death penalty was finally abolished in France.

By the way, the museum warns that “some of the pieces presented in the exhibition may be shocking to some visitors (particularly children)”. Great for your blood-thirsty teenagers then! We investigate…

Over the years covered by the exhibition, literature created many criminal characters. The title is itself taken from a work by Dostoyevsky. In the press, particularly the illustrated daily newspapers, the powerful fantasy of violent crime was greatly increased through novels.

At the same time, the criminal theme came into the visual arts. In the work of the greatest painters, Goya, Géricault, Picasso and Magritte, images of crime or capital punishment resulted in the most striking works. The cinema too was not slow to assimilate the equivocal charms of extreme violence, transformed by its representation into something pleasurable, perhaps even into sensual pleasure.

A great subject for an exhibition then. Beyond crime, there is still the perpetual problem of Evil, and beyond social circumstances, metaphysical anxiety. Art brings a spectacular answer to these questions. The aesthetic of violence and the violence of the aesthetic – this exhibition aims to bring them together through music, literature and a wide range of images.

Organised to complement the exhibition are guided tours – one for all the family, another (gorier?) adapted for teenagers – kids workshops, a cycle of films and several concerts.

The Crime and Punishment exhibition is at the Musée d’Orsay (here) from 16th March – 27th June 2010. Open every day except Mondays from 9.30am – 6pm (9.45pm Thursdays). Admission 8€/5.50€.

Official site: www.musee-orsay.fr