Exhibition "Perspectives on Joan of Arc"

In the 19th century, the Buren Room , illuminated by two stained-glass windows designed by Daniel Buren, houses sculptures from the collection of a passionate collector for whom Joan of Arc remained "the bravest man in France ." In bronze, marble, gilded, or onyx, these works reveal the many incarnations of the Maid of Orléans: horsewoman, warrior virgin, saint, or patriotic figure. 19th-century statuary thus shaped an idealized image, at the crossroads of the religious and the national.

In the 20th century, in the Guards' Room, the exhibition presents suspended images from "The Passion of Joan of Arc" (1928), Carl Theodor Dreyer's masterpiece. This silent, black-and-white film establishes a radical modernity. Inspired by the trial transcripts, Dreyer films faces in extreme close-up, in a succession of strikingly intense shots. Expressions become strained and distorted, oscillating between austerity and strangeness. The poignant face of Renée Jeanne Falconetti, imbued with inner fervor, gives Joan a presence that is both mystical and unsettling, somewhere between saint and witch, between divine inspiration and the vertigo of doubt.

The exhibition continues in the Eiffel Room with a representation of the 21st century. Bruno Dumont, a major figure in contemporary cinema and a Cannes award winner, extends this exploration with his films “Jeannette” (2017) and “Jeanne” (2019). In them, he offers a refined and embodied vision of Joan of Arc, a serious and determined child, while also examining the historical and symbolic significance of this constantly reinvented figure.