Natures vives - Photographs by Jean-Baptiste Hugo 

The Orangerie du Jardin des Plantes is hosting an exhibition of photographs by Jean-Baptiste Hugo, organized thanks to the Association des Amis du Jardin des Plantes, echoing the summer program of three exhibitions devoted to his father Jean Hugo (Montpellier, Sète, Lunel).

If the message of the still lifes by the Dutch masters of the ^16th and ^17th centuries was to remind the newly enriched merchants of the impermanence of life and encourage them to return to less materialistic values, Jean-Baptiste Hugo's Natures vives invite us to cultivate an attitude of reverence towards the living.

Showing these "Natures vives" at the Orangerie recalls the original vocation of the Jardin des Plantes, when it was created by Henri IV, to develop and serve the life sciences.

The exhibition will be accompanied by lectures, readings and workshops organized by the Association des amis du Jardin des Plantes.