The exhibition juxtaposes photographs by Vincent Munier with works from the collections of Strasbourg's museums (Museum of Fine Arts, Print and Drawing Room, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Tomi Ungerer Museum, and Zoological Museum) dating from the 16th to the 20th century. These works and photographs depicting animals and the natural world around them will thus interact and resonate, offering visitors a moment of suspended contemplation.

Vincent Munier, with his technique and his eye, sensitively captures the fleeting nature and power of encounters with wild animals. Photographed in all their majesty, these animals, along with the photographs representing them, attain the status of works of art. Many people affirm the need to get closer to living things in order to recharge their batteries. The same is true for works of art, and museums are, in their own way, a kind of refuge. We therefore propose inviting nature into the museum. Art, like living things, deserves to be observed, contemplated, and protected, perhaps even more so today than in the past. We must "know how to look" in order to "know how to protect." Ultimately, isn't a visit to a museum a bit like a walk in the forest? Isn't the museum, in its own way, a kind of reserve, a refuge?

The exhibition presents 81 photographs by Vincent Munier (including 15 cyanotypes produced in collaboration with photographers Julien Félix and Léo-Pol Jacquot), focusing in particular on the theme of the forest. It also presents a series of photographs of more distant animals in a white environment, a color dear to the photographer. The exhibition design by atelier-aile² accompanies the visitor on a sensory journey.

"I want to experience nature at its most powerful. For in the face of its grandeur, man rediscovers his fragility. Confronted with these environments, he must show profound and sincere humility. This invites him to observe, to feel, to be moved... Gone is the desire to conquer, to control, or to profit. Seek nothing but wonder."

Vincent Munier, Arctic. Expedition Journal

Curators: Céline Marcle and Dominique Jacquot, conservation department of the Strasbourg Museum of Fine Arts.

A publication reproduces all of the works chosen by the artist for the Strasbourg exhibition, accompanied by an interview with the artist about his photographic practice and an unpublished text by Lune Vuillemin, an author whose novels focus on sensory immersion in nature, echoing Vincent Munier's universe.