The Museum of History, Nantes presents an exhibition running for three months entitled « Mirror, My Beautiful Mirror… Images of Political Power Past and Present ». Spanning centuries, the exhibition offers a rich and rigorous itinerary which invites visitors to examine the way in which French political power has operated since the models put in place under the monarchy, and how it constructs its official image: from coronation robes to portraits of the Presidents of the Republic, via a representations of Marianne, peaceful emblem of the Republic, and even caricatures.
The exhibition, which benefits from important loans, brings together paintings, etchings, objects, photographs, posters… of which the most beautiful are unquestionably the royal portraits and allegories of the Republic.
With this show which opens on the 4th of October, the 50th anniversary of the Fifth Republic, the Museum of History, Nantes is striving to reinforce its role as a museum of the people, in encouraging the public to decipher images and messages, allowing them to better understand today’s society.