Nuits électriques

Abstract

"A major century of transformations, the 19th century saw the nocturnal landscape evolve radically with the appearance of artificial lighting. Dark for a long time, the urban night gradually lights up, adorning itself with more varied atmospheres. Light and shadow play, chiaroscuro and backlighting effects, first neon advertisements. a new range of visual experiences appears, tinged with a magic and a poetry specific to the world of the night. Between fascination, admiration, curiosity and nostalgia, these nocturnal metamorphoses strongly mark the artists. Everywhere in Europe, painters, engravers, photographers, the most open to manifestations of modernity, make it a favorite subject. With Electric Nights, the MuMa - Musée d'art moderne André Malraux in Le Havre, explores for the first time this question of the perception of urban artificial lighting by artists, from the second half of the 19th century to the eve of the First World War."--Translation provided by cataloger via Google Translate.