BY GUILLAUME FAROULT, JEAN-PAUL CLUZEL
Published in conjunction with the exhibition Fragonard in love at musée du Luxembourg from 16 September 2015 to 24 January 2016.
According to the Goncourt brothers, the eighteenth century was the century of seduction and amorous intrigue. They made Jean Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) the main illustrator, or even the main agent, of this postulate. In fact, love inspiration flows through the protean work of the "divine Frago", according to varied but specified modalities, often echoing the transformations and preoccupations of his time. It will accompany the last fires of gallantry to then take the various paths of polissonnerie and libertinage or love sincere and moralized. The question of the delicate articulation of sensuality and feeling is central in the intellectual, philosophical and literary space in the middle of the eighteenth century, when the Enlightenment is passionate about sensualism from England. This same question is central to Fragonard's work throughout his career. The purpose of the catalog is therefore to explore the various variations around this theme of sentiment or impulse love, tirelessly taken over and enriched by the artist.