The musée de l'Homme offers you a real journey through time that you should not miss! The new exhibition Arts and Prehistory presents more than 90 works of prehistoric art from around the world and a hundred digital representations of paintings and engravings. 

The mixture of the digital world and the prehistoric era is powerful and shows us, through a great diversity of art forms, how art has been part of the main needs of human beings since time immemorial. 

This selection of works highlights the richness and diversity of prehistoric art forms, which have inspired many modern and contemporary artists. Some works by Louise Bourgeois, Brassaï or Yves Klein are also exhibited to prove this strong link between creations dating from such different periods. 

The first part of the exhibition is dedicated to furniture art. You can discover decorative objects or furniture carved and engraved 40 000 years ago. Key objects of the prehistoric era, coming from the collections of the National Museum of Natural History, are also honored in this section of the exhibition. You will be able to admire the Venus of Lespugue, the Venus impudique or the plate of the radiant Aurochs, exposed for the very first time. 

The second part plunges you into the cave and parietal art of the whole world. It is a digital reconstruction of a large number of works that decorate the rocks of all the continents, from the Chinese cliffs to the Indonesian islands, from the caves of the Dordogne to the Spanish caves and the Australian rock shelters. You will be able to admire the different subjects represented, but also the different styles. 

“Arts et Prehistory” shows us an enriching and inspiring artistic diversity that can offer you a unique moment of immersion in the evolution of the human being and his ability to communicate.

Until the 22/05/23. Open every day except Tuesday from 11 am to 7 pm. 

Photo ©Centre des Sciences de Montréal – Flickr