The impressionists tell the climate story

The Musée d'Orsay is taking 100 works on tour to reflect on the climate crisis

For some time now, culture has been asking itself how it can do its part in the fight against climate change. A provocative wake-up call has come to the art world, also from environmental groups such as Last Generation and Extinction Rebellion, who have symbolically targeted immortal works such as the Mona Lisa with paint or soup. On the other hand, the call to practice a certain narrative about the climate crisis – aimed at action rather than retreat into catastrophism, or worse, denialism – seems even more urgent today, in the age of ‘drill, baby drill’.

The Parisian d'Orsay museum has provided us with an elaborate example, with the initiative ‘100 Œuvres qui racontent le climat’ (‘100 Works that tell the story of the climate’). This is a project that is being defined as a ‘national operation’. It involved experts in climatology and biodiversity, together with museum curators, to take a selection of works on a journey throughout France, from March to July 2025, aimed at reflecting on the link between art, the territory, science and the climate.

The gallery, designed by world-famous Italian architects, known as the Musée des Impressionnistes in Paris (The Museum of Impressionists in Paris), is therefore proposing a project in which sculpture, graphic art, painting, photography, architectural design and decorative art are called upon to tell the story of the origins of climate challenges, in order to raise public awareness and stimulate action. A programme aimed at ‘combining cultural ambition and ecological responsibility’, which is not limited to the research of content, but also deals with the reduction of impact. Sylvain Amic, president of the ‘Établissement public du musée d'Orsay et du musée de l'Orangerie’ (State-owned establishment of the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée de l'Orangerie) explains: “The Musée d'Orsay is committed to limiting the environmental impact of this initiative by favouring bio-sourced and reusable materials for the packaging of the works, optimising transport routes through regional groupings and promoting the use of biofuels wherever possible.”

The one hundred masterpieces (Corot, Manet, Monet, Delacroix, Rousseau, etc.), from various collections, housed in what was once the Gare d'Orsay, were selected for their ability to interact with scientific knowledge and current events. They mainly bear witness to the effects of industrialisation and environmental transformations that began in the 19th century. Some of these works will be presented in 31 museums in 12 French regions, through exhibitions, conferences and workshops, others will be part of a thematic tour in the Musée d'Orsay itself, while all together will give rise to a publication with analyses by experts and curators, directed by Servane Dargnies-de Vitry, chief curator at the Musée d'Orsay.

The connections between the works and the current climate crisis are at times allusive, at others particularly explicit. Some paintings, for example, will be exhibited in places directly affected by climate disasters. This is the case of Alfred Sisley's L'inondation à Port Marly (The flood in Port Marly), which will be hosted in the spring at the Girodet museum in Montargis, a city devastated by the floods caused by the Loing river in 2016.

In particular, this museum on the Loire, still engaged in the recovery of its collections that were seriously damaged during the flood 9 years ago, wants to relate the present to the past. It does this in a journey that brings together Sisley's work from 1876 – painted during a flood of the Seine – with its own restored Maximilien Luce collection, together with the memory of the floods in the area.

From local catastrophes to global problems, the works are placed in dialogue with the territory of the French province. The National Maritime Museum of the Navy, for example, appropriately houses the oil on canvas Les Glaciers, mer de Kara (The Glaciers, Sea of Kara) in the castle of Bert, a well-known port of polar exploration. This is a painting depicting blue glaciers devoid of any human presence, created in 1906 by Alexandre Sergejewitsch Borisoff (1866-1934), a Russian painter, writer and explorer of the polar regions. The exhibition, entitled ‘De Brest à l'Arctique’, (From Brest to the Arctic) will be in Brest from April to July.

Impressionist painters are known for their en plein air work. They prefer to take their easels out into nature and among people, as in the case of Monet, who captures the diversity and beauty of the flora in his garden, an example of a rich and varied natural balance. And the exhibition ‘The Language of Flowers’ is a true hymn to nature, which the Louis Médard museum will present from April to September in Lunel (20 km from Montpellier), with as special guest Le Jardin de l'artiste à Giverny (The artist's garden at Giverny) by Claude Monet. For the artist, the garden at Giverny was a source of inspiration, but also a real living laboratory, where he could observe the interactions between plants, light and the seasons. This work is a tribute to the richness of biodiversity and the balance of ecosystems, which must be preserved for future generations.

Nature is generous, but man can be rapacious. Our species is responsible, in fact, through its choices of production, consumption and lifestyle, for the massive disappearance of soil. To explore this theme, in Dijon, in the Arquebuse garden, the natural history museum will host eight works by d'Orsay, with an exhibition entitled ‘Sols vivant’ (Living Landscapes), from April until January 2026. Among the works is the painting Les Quias (The Quais) by the naturalist Jean Charles Cazin, in which progress changes not only human life, but also the space and colour of the landscape. The theme of land exploitation will be explored throughout the year by the Dijon museum through various activities, including meetings with experts, and educational and artistic projects.

The exceptional loans of works from the Musée d'Orsay are therefore an opportunity for museums in the French provinces, and their visitors, to explore and reflect on one of the many themes that arise in the exploitation of the relationship between man and nature. While the famous Chasse au tigre (The Tiger Hunt) by Eugène Delacroix, at the Crozatier Museum in Le Puy-en-Velay from March to July, is a reason to reflect on the theme of hunting and the wild species exterminated by man, La symphonie pastorale (The Pastoral Symphony) by Pierre Bonnard, on display at the Bonnard Museum in Cannet from March to June, invites us to become aware of the fragile beauty of nature and to reflect on its crucial role in our existence. The soft light and bright colours of Bonnard's canvas create a feeling of calm that invites the observer to immerse himself in this peace. Inspired by Spinoza's philosophy, the work depicts a nature that is not a setting, but an essential actor in human existence, a place of balance and fulfilment.

A place in danger, which can still be saved.