Lively Natures – Photographs by Jean-Baptiste Hugo 

The Orangerie at the Jardin des Plantes is hosting an exhibition of photographs by Jean-Baptiste Hugo, organized by the Friends of the Jardin des Plantes association, echoing the summer program of three exhibitions dedicated to his father Jean Hugo (Montpellier, Sète, Lunel).

If the message of the still lifes painted by Dutch masters in the^16th and^17th centuries was to remind 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 living things.

Displaying these "Natures vives" at the Orangerie recalls the original purpose of the Jardin des Plantes when it was created by Henry IV, which was to develop and serve the life sciences.

The exhibition will be accompanied by lectures, readings, and workshops organized by the Friends of the Jardin des Plantes association.