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Poster with Napoleon on a horse in front of a cloud of black smoke. Text above and below reads "A new life of Napoleon magnificently illustrated is now beginning in the Century Magazine".

Eugène-Samuel Grasset, "A New Life of Napoleon", 1894, color lithograph on paper mounted on linen. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard A. Lauder.

Dates

January 22- July 31, 2025

Location

Zimmerli Art Museum

71 Hamilton Street New Brunswick, NJ, 08901

Information

Admission at the Zimmerli is FREE to everyone. Tickets are not required for exhibitions

Napoleon: A Visual Legacy of Power

Napoleon Bonaparte (French, 1769-1821) rose to power through his military career during the tumultuous period following the 1789 French Revolution. Napoleon waged numerous wars to expand France’s empire including a failed attempt to retake its Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue, now known as Haiti. His campaigns in Europe and North Africa provided a stream of subject matter for painters and printmakers.

In the decades following Napoleon’s removal from power in 1815, Napoleon’s image endured in French art and popular culture, featuring works that both celebrated and satirized his towering and ongoing presence in the French imagination. This exhibition explores images of Napoleon made after his death, revealing the ways art is intertwined with history and can be used to reinforce or challenge accepted narratives.

Generous support for bilingual text was provided by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program.

Text reading "Art Bridges Foundation" with a purple arch connecting the words.
   

 

Exhibition Preview

Eugène-Samuel Grasset, A New Life of Napoleon, 1894, color lithograph on paper mounted on linen. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard A. Lauder.

Maurice Réalier-Dumas, Napoleon, 1895, color lithograph on paper. Gift of the Class of 1958, Twentieth Reunion.

Guiseppe Domenico Grandi, Marshal Ney (1769-1815), c. 1875, bronze. Purchased with funds donated by the Kivelstadt Family.