Love Is a Source of Inspiration

“Love Is a Source of Inspiration”, a book-illustrative exhibition timed to Valentine’s Day, runs the fine arts room (306), from February 14 to March 9.

What is love? For centuries, writers and poets, composers and artists tried to find an answer to this question. They were inspired by love and sang it, trying to represent it in arts, to reflect its essence, to capture this elusive, multifaceted and lofty feeling. However, each era had its own ideas about how the theme of love in art should be expressed.

During the Renaissance, secular art associated love with Cupid and Venus. Religious art personified the Christian ideal of love as a figure of mercy. The literature of chivalry brought flourishing to themes of courtly love. A playful attitude to the meaning of love lies at the basis of the artistic imagery of the 18th century in France, which went down in history as the gallant, while in the era of classicism, feelings are completely relegated to the background, giving way to duty. With the advent of the Romantic era, the concept of love takes on a profound meaning, when the feelings and experiences of a hero, the reflection of his inner world becomes most important in works of art. The 20th century brought new trends and forms, which influenced the reflection of reality, in which love was shown in accordance with innovative artistic techniques. Currently, the theme of love remains one of the most relevant in art.

The offered exhibition acquaints with numerous reproductions by outstanding artists and sculptors, who addressed to the theme of love: Veronese, Rubens, Rembrandt, Watteau, Boucher, Fragonard, David, Rodin, Klimt, Picasso, Magritte, Chagall, etc.

The exposition also presents the pictures of famous lovers: Venus and Adonis, Cupid and Psyche, Hercules and Omphale, Apollo and Daphne, Paris and Helen, Tristan and Isolde, Romeo and Juliet and others.

Visitors will be interested in books about artists and their muses, love stories of famous painters and sculptors: Auguste Rodin and Camilla Claudel, Amedeo Modigliani and Jeanne Hebutern, Pablo Picasso and Dora Maar, Diego Rivera and Frida Calo, Salvador Dali and Gala (Elena Dyakonova), Marc Chagall and Bella Rosenfeld.

Over 80 publications are on display.

The opening hours of the exhibition correspond to the library’s opening hours.
Admission is by library card or by ticket of the library's social and cultural center. Information and tickets may be obtained at the registration desk.

Contact: (+375 17) 293 27 53.