No sovereignty at sea without images to attest to it.

When Louis XIII and Richelieu decided, in 1626, to provide France with a permanent State Navy, they immediately understood that power was not enough – it also had to be represented. Painters then entered the service of power, their canvases becoming as much instruments of propaganda as works of art.

Four centuries later, the National Maritime Museum in Paris retraces this history: that of an art enslaved and then liberated. Here, the museum brings together nearly 150 works spanning eight chronological sections – from the Grand Siècle to the aesthetic questions of the 20th century.

Le Lorrain opens the proceedings with his idealized seas, bathed in a poetic light reminiscent of the Nordic and Italian schools. Vernet documents the kingdom's ports with almost scientific precision on royal commission. Gudin exalts the battles of the Empire.

Then something shifts: Manet, Signac, and Marquet seize upon the sea no longer to glorify it but to paint – the light, the movement, the industrial modernity of the quays and cranes. Subjugation becomes freedom. This gradual shift – from political allegory to the artist's gaze – is the true guiding thread of the exhibition.

Thirty lending institutions, from the Louvre to the Musée d'Orsay, including Versailles, responded enthusiastically to retrace this transformation. The result is a journey that is both sumptuous and rigorous, guided by an exceptional scientific committee and a scenography designed for grand occasions.

Four hundred years of marine art, seen from the shores of painting.

46th MARINE ART EXHIBITION

Alongside the exhibition, the museum hosts the 46th Marine Art Exhibition – an essential event for the Official Painters of the Navy and all those inspired by the sea.

Paintings, photographs, sculptures, engravings: a vibrant panorama of contemporary maritime art, under the same roof as masterpieces from the last four centuries. Two ways to measure the progress made since Richelieu.

National Maritime Museum, Paris
From May 13 to August 2, 2026
17 Place du Trocadéro, 75016
Metro: Trocadéro (Lines 6/9)
Wed. to Mon., 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Closed on Tue.
Admission: €15 - Reduced rate: €11 - Free for under 26s