Jacques-Louis David, 1748-1825

Exhibition at the Louvre Museum, Paris, 15 October 2025 - 26 January 2026

Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825) lived through six political regimes, played an active role in the Revolution, and created images that still haunt our collective imagination today: Marat Assassinated, Bonaparte Crossing the Alps, The Coronation of Napoleon... It is through the filter of his paintings that we picture the great moments of the Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire, and it is in his portraits that the society of that era comes to life.

On the bicentenary of David's death in exile, this exhibition catalogue offers a new synthesis of his rich artistic, political and social career, based on the most recent research on the painter. It focuses in particular on his commitment during the Revolution, then on the confrontation, after the fall of the Empire and his exile in Brussels, with the new generation, Ingres in particular, whom he had largely helped to train.