L'étoffe de l'artiste. De Rosa Bonheur à Sonia Delaunay

Following the rediscovery of Antoine Bourdelle's clothes in 2020, the Bourdelle Museum explores, in a new exhibition, the representations and staging strategies of artists through their clothing, from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century. The exhibition "L’étoffe de l’artiste" is punctuated by little-known garments worn by emblematic or more confidential figures, both men and women – notably Gustav Klimt, Rosa Bonheur, Foujita, Sonia Delaunay, Camille Bernier – in dialogue with paintings, sculptures, graphic arts, and photographs.

At the end of the 19th century, while many artists wore common city clothes, some asserted themselves through more elegant outfits, while others appeared in blouses, overalls, or jumpsuits, embodying a new ideal of the artist at work.

Dress codes soon multiplied, driven by a movement towards individualisation.

At the turn of the 20th century, the wardrobe alternately became a revolutionary manifesto, an extension of the creative act, or even the affirmation of an identity: gender fluidity and cross-dressing games, a quest for real or dreamed elsewhere, belonging or marginality… Artists carefully composed their outfits and created recognisable silhouettes for posterity.

While the relationship between artists and clothing has already been explored (notably in the exhibition S’habiller en artiste.

L’artiste et le vêtement at the Louvre Lens in 2025), L’étoffe de l’artiste adopts an innovative approach, at the crossroads of art history, sociology, and fashion history.

For the first time, more than 50 textile pieces, accessories, and objects worn by artists have been brought together, thanks to extensive research conducted by the curators in the collections and archives of institutions and private collections.

These unique pieces are displayed alongside 50 photographs, 33 paintings, 12 drawings, and 9 sculptures in a chrono-thematic journey, to capture the styles, looks, and staging that immediately identify them as artists.

Particular attention has been paid to the diversity of artists represented, with nearly a quarter of the artists exhibited being women.

The result of five years of work and research, L’étoffe de l’artiste benefits from exceptional loans from major French and European institutions such as the musée d’Orsay, the musée des Arts décoratifs de Paris, the musée d’Art moderne de Paris, the Palais Galliera, the Maison-atelier Foujita, the Museo di arte