Exhibition displays flair of 18th-century Parisian residences

Visitors to “Special Exhibition of The Museum of Decorative Arts Paris” can learn about the decorations of an 18th-century Parisian home. The visiting display is at the Seoul Arts Center’s Hangaram Design Museum in Seocho District. By Jeon Ho-seong

Paris usually tops the list of cities that Koreans most want to visit.

To get a snippet of opulent Parisian life, Koreans can immerse themselves in the richly ornamented decorations of an 18th-century home in Hangaram Design Museum’s “Special Exhibition of The Museum of Decorative Arts Paris” at the Seoul Arts Center.

The display is the first overseas exhibition to come from the 150-year-old Les Arts Decoratifs in Paris.

Rather than displaying 18th-century furniture, paintings, ceramics and glassware as individual objects, the exhibit is set out as a reproduction of a luxury residence resembling the Rodin Museum in Paris, including a garden area and a dressing room.

The museum said a total of 320 pieces of art are on display in the period room, which was designed by Philippe Renaud.

Visitors can peek into the lifestyles of wealthy Parisians, according to the organizer. For example, to flaunt the wealth of their family, rich Parisians often decorated their parlor by painting the walls yellow and switching out the furniture every season, explained a guide at the exhibit, who was dressed up in an 18th-century Marie Antoinette-style dress.

From time to time, staff members of the museum pay a surprise visit to the gallery dressed in noblemen and women’s clothing of the time to add the environment, according to the organizer.

In the bedroom and the dressing room, visitors can see the lavish clothing of French women of the time.

Even the chamber pots in these high-class 18th-century residences were exquisitely decorated, as proven by an example on display at the exhibit.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [sharon@joongang.co.kr]

The exhibition runs until March 29 at the Hangaram Design Museum at the Seoul Arts Center in southern Seoul. Tickets are 13,000 won ($12) for adults. For more information, call (02) 584-7091 or visit www.sac.or.kr/eng.