Pleasure residences around Paris, from Louis XIV to Napoleon III

From the Renaissance onwards, summer was synonymous to the wealthy fleeing their Île-de-France towns to head for their sumptuous residences ‘in the fields’ where they sought respite and pleasure. These pleasure residences served equally as sites of representation and places of respite. They flaunted their owners’ wealth and good taste.
Prints, paintings and decorative objects dating from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries illustrate these pages in history as they shaped the Parisian landscape. Exhibited works offer an insight into the art of living and the social changes that took place at the end of the Ancien Régime and the 19th century: fashionable forms of entertainment, the desire for intimacy and comfort, the role of women, the development of the bourgeoisie, and their links with nature.