Get Wowed by Georges de La Tour at Musée Jacquemart-André

Any excuse to go to the Musée Jacquemart-André is a good one. The 19th-century hôtel particulier (mansion), once owned by art collectors and high-society couple Nélie Jacquemart and Édouard André, is sublime. Wandering through the sumptuous rooms and jardin d’hiver — taking in the acres of frescoes, gilding and marble — will have you imagining the incredible parties once hosted here for Le Tout Paris. What’s more, a full restoration — the museum closed for an entire year, reopening in September 2024 — has given it a new lease on life. (It’s been owned by the Institut de France since 1912, when Nélie Jacquemart bequeathed the property and art collections in her will.)

But the new exhibition on Georges de la Tour, one of the greatest French painters in history, is a reason enough to go to this museum on Boulevard Haussmann. Our advice? Book your tickets online ASAP for this show that’s destined to be one of the absolute hits of la rentrée. This is the first French expo devoted to the artist, a master of chiaroscuro, since the historic exhibition at the Grand Palais in 1997. Mystery swirls around his life and work. Here’s the backstory: Born in 1593 in the duchy of Lorraine, Georges de la Tour lived most of his career in Lorraine, working for prestigious collectors, and later for the court of France under Louis XIII. He was even given the official title of “painter to the king.” It was said the king was so smitten with his work, that he hung a painting in his bedroom and had all the other art removed.

Despite such an illustrious career, Georges de la Tour was completely forgotten after his death during an epidemic in 1652… until his rediscovery by German art historian Hermann Voss in the early 20th century. There are only 40 paintings conserved today, in museums and private art collections around the world, of what experts estimate would have been 300 works created in his lifetime. This exhibit brings together 30 works on loan from French and foreign public and private collections — from as far away as Ukraine, San Francisco, Tokyo and Abu Dhabi.

Often compared to Caravaggio, Georges de la Tour developed a unique personal style characterized by his use of candlelight and naturalism to express an interior state of mind. Nocturnal illumination on everyday people (some of his models appear to be ordinary Lorraine locals) creates a relatable human tale, whether he was depicting biblical stories (“Job Mocked by His Wife”), a blind hurdy-gurdy player on the street, or the famous “Newborn Child.”

André Malraux (1901-1976), the culture minister and novelist, once wrote that “La Tour is the only interpreter of the serene part of darkness.” It’s this serenity that draws you to the paintings, inviting you to stand, transfixed, to take in all the unidealized human details, down to the bunion on a subject’s foot.

The exhibit is not presented chronologically — after all, historians have so few details of George de la Tour’s life — but by theme. If you can take your time to linger in front of just a few paintings, you will be blown away by the artist’s restraint; this is not a big, operatic display aka Caravaggio, but a quiet meditation on humanity and holiness. Studies have shown that visitors to art museums only spend an average of eight seconds looking at a painting, but slow down and you’ll be haunted by candlelight, what the curators call the “poetic observations of flames,” down to the blue hue at the wick, and the sense of movement as the subject exhales.

DETAILS
Georges de La Tour, Between light and shadow: Until January 25, 2026
Musée Jacquemart-André
158 boulevard Haussmann, 8th arrondissement
Tel: +33 (0)1 45 62 11 59
Open every day, late closures on Friday at 10 pm
Full price ticket: €18.50
Le Nélie, Restaurant-Tea room is a lovely place to have lunch or afternoon tea.