Enlightening the Living. Observing Art and Nature with Vincent Munier

" To mark the reopening of the Zoological Museum, this exhibition brings together works from the collections of several museums in the city of Strasbourg depicting animals and nature, alongside contemporary photographs by Vincent Munier. "

With the Strasbourg Zoological Museum reopening, the Fine Arts Museum is inviting wildlife photographer Vincent Munier to urge visitors to escape the humdrum, to take time off, to look at art as we look at nature. In the exhibition, Vincent Munier's photographs can be seen side by side with works from the collections of Strasbourg's Museums, spanning the 16th to the 20th centuries. The exhibits and photographs showing animals in their natural environment thus interact and resonate with each other, giving visitors a contemplative moment in which time seems to stand still. With his technique and his vision, Vincent Munier sensitively captures the fleeting nature and power of the encounter with a wild animal. Along with the photograph representing it, the animal photographed in all its splendour acquires the status of a work of art. In an attempt to recharge our batteries, we increasingly express the need to reconnect with the living. The same is true of works of art, a museum being in its own way a kind of refuge. Here we propose to invite Nature into the Museum. Just like the living, art deserves to be observed, contemplated and protected – today perhaps even more than ever before. In order to "know how to protect" we need to "know how to look." Doesn't a visit to a museum ultimately have affinities with a walk in the forest? Isn't the museum in its own way a kind of reserve, a refuge?