The magnificent sculpture known as the Venus of Arles is a powerful echo of the work of Praxiteles, the Greek sculptor who, in the 4th ^century BC, dared to reveal the nudity of Aphrodite. Created in the 1st ^century BC, this remarkable Roman copy was discovered in Arles in 1651 in the ruins of the ancient theater, an event that immediately captivated art lovers. Initially identified as Diana, it was aptly renamed Venus by Louis XIV, who wished to have it presented to him by the city and displayed at Versailles. Housed in the Louvre for over two centuries, and now located near the Venus de Milo, it remains one of the museum’s most important works.

This exceptional work will be presented in an exhibition co-produced by the Arles Antique Departmental Museum and the Louvre Museum. It will be surrounded by a procession of masterpieces from various periods, from ancient Aphrodites to more modern ones, painted by Gustave Moreau, photographed by Man Ray or appropriated by Andy Warhol, illustrating the enduring prestige of Venus and the powers she continues to embody.

This exceptional loan from the Louvre Museum, accompanied by nearly eighty major works, including thirty-three selected from its own collections, as well as the scenography designed by Nathalie Crinière, make this exhibition a major event. It brings together objects from a variety of techniques and periods, from Antiquity to the present day.

This long-awaited visit of Venus to Provence has a special significance in a region where she inspired writers and poets – Daudet, Mistral, Mérimée, Aubanel – who sang the praises of the one whose absence made her mythical.

Having become, for the people of Arles, a reference of balance and beauty, it has continued to inhabit the collective imagination.

The exhibition, which traces the journey from the birth of Aphrodite to the triumph of the Venus of Arles, reveals and explores the significance of the aesthetic variations in the goddess’s representation over time, illuminated by the texts of ancient authors. Formal and spiritual comparisons, dialogues with works from various periods, and interventions by contemporary artists: these are just some of the methods used to highlight the meaning of the artwork and to appreciate the depth of the poetic, philosophical, anthropological, and religious concepts that the goddess embodies, in order to better understand the fascination she has exerted for centuries.

In order to also recall the context of its discovery, a section of the exhibition brings together information on its invention, the first representations and copies of which it was the subject, as well as on the inventive restorations it has undergone since the 17th ^century , in particular the intervention of the king’s sculptor, François Girardon, who completed it by adding arms, apple and mirror.

Finally, in dialogue with the Louvre Museum’s collection, sixteen contemporary artists question the goddess: her archaic origin, the cult of the naked body, or even the kitsch to which her extreme popularity has sometimes led.