Animals Take the Stage - Sculptures by Antoine-Louis Barye

The museum holds a collection of 34 animal sculptures by the French artist Antoine-Louis Barye (1795–1875), and in the exhibition Animals Take the Stage they are presented in a new display.With Barye and the so-called animaliers, animals emerged as independent subjects in 19th-century art – no longer depicted as symbols or as mere background to humans, but as individuals with their own character and expression.During the guided tour, we take a closer look at the fascination with animals in the 1800s and draw connections to the period’s new scientific theories, the zoological garden in Paris, the rise of industrial agriculture, and France’s imperial expansion