9 min

The Sublime Sea Alcôve

    • Visual Arts

In this time of sea change, many curators and artists, writers and journalists are turning their gaze to the ocean. From its depiction as a site of the sublime and the brutal in John Akomfrah’s film, Vertigo Sea, to its lyrical treatment in Sirène, the journal devoted to life governed by the pull of the tide, the sea is at the forefront of our cultural consciousness. At the
Musée de la Vie Romantique in Paris, director Gaëlle Rio curated Tempêtes et Naufrages | Storms and Shipwrecks, an exhibition devoted to depictions of the ocean in the art of the 19th century. In this 10 minute episode, Rio shares how turbulent, luminous marine landscapes by Girodet and Vernet, Feyen-Perrin and Hugo, are ultimately projections of the human soul.

In this time of sea change, many curators and artists, writers and journalists are turning their gaze to the ocean. From its depiction as a site of the sublime and the brutal in John Akomfrah’s film, Vertigo Sea, to its lyrical treatment in Sirène, the journal devoted to life governed by the pull of the tide, the sea is at the forefront of our cultural consciousness. At the
Musée de la Vie Romantique in Paris, director Gaëlle Rio curated Tempêtes et Naufrages | Storms and Shipwrecks, an exhibition devoted to depictions of the ocean in the art of the 19th century. In this 10 minute episode, Rio shares how turbulent, luminous marine landscapes by Girodet and Vernet, Feyen-Perrin and Hugo, are ultimately projections of the human soul.

9 min