For the first time in France the Petit Palais is presenting a selection of 140 drawings from the lavish collections of Weimar's museums. These remarkable images – initially chosen by Goethe (1749-1832) for the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and his own collection – offer a spectacular overview of the golden age of German drawing (approx. 1780-1850).
Divided into seven sections, the exhibition combines the chronological and the aesthetic. As well as such emblematic figures as Caspar Friedrich, Philipp Runge and Johann Füssli, the visitor will discover some 35 artists who played vital parts in the history of drawing, among them Tischbein, Carstens, Fohr, Horny, von Schadow, Schinkel, von Schwind, Richter, and the Nazarenes Overbeck and Schnorr von Carolsfeld, driven by Christian spirituality and national feeling.
Portraits and genre scenes, castles in ruins, compositions of biblical and medieval inspiration – but above all landscapes mingling idealism and naturalism in every imaginable media – offer the viewer a sublime frisson in their illustration of the private, inner and sometimes flamboyant lives of the Romantic artists.
Exhibition organised with 
Curators :
Hermann Mildenberger, professor and curator at Klassik Stiftung Weimar
Gaëlle Rio, director, Musée de la Vie romantique
Christophe Leribault, director, Petit Palais