M9 Mestre, 51 works from MuMa in Le Havre celebrate the power of art in the face of war's destruction

From March 15 to August 31, 2025 M9 - Museo del ’900 di Mestre welcomes as its first temporary exhibition of the year the exhibition Arte Salvata. Masterpieces Beyond War from MuMa Le Havre, which aims to celebrate the power of art in the face of war’s destruction, thus becoming a shared testimony to historical memory.

Curated by Géraldine Lefebvre, director of MuMa, and Marianne Mathieu, an expert on Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, the exhibition tells stories of rebirth. Not only that of Le Havre, 80 percent razed to the ground during the bombings, but also of Mestre and Porto Marghera, deeply affected by the conflict. The encounter between these two realities, eighty years later, celebrates the power of cultural heritage to preserve and renew collective memory. This initiative is part of M9’s path of international collaborations: 51 works from the André Malraux Museum of Modern Art in Le Havre (MuMa), famous for its exceptional collection of Impressionist paintings, will be on display. For the first time, MuMa is lending a significant part of its collection on loan to mark the80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The works on display, many of which survived the bombings, are emblems of the reconstruction of Le Havre, led by architect Auguste Perret, a process that led to the city’s recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The paintings narrate the artistic evolution of the city, which was able to integrate its cultural heritage into the urban context.

Founded in 1845, during a period of intense industrial growth, the MuMa built its collection thanks to the contributions of artists, patrons and collectors, who transformed Le Havre into a cultural avant-garde hub. The works on display celebrate this contribution, starting with the works of Eugène Boudin and Claude Monet. The vitality of Impressionism is also represented by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Maxime Maufra and Henry Moret, while the Symbolist side finds expression in the paintings of Paul Gauguin, Jean-Francis Auburtin, Ker Xavier Roussel, Maurice Denis and Marie Droppe. The artistic journey continues with the birth of Fauvism through the works of Raoul Dufy and Othon Friesz, alongside the southern views of Albert Marquet and Charles Camoin.

The exhibition experience will be enriched by musical suggestions curated by Dario Falcone, a young Venetian musician. Songs by Debussy, Ravel, Messiaen, and Malipiero, as well as Bach, Mozart, and Chopin (the latter of whom Dufy was very fond of), will accompany the visit, offering an immersion in the culture of the early 20th century.

Arte Salvata ’s narrative is intertwined with M9’s permanent exhibition dedicated to the Total War and postwar Italy. A photographic section dedicated to the war in Mestre will be on the second and third floors of the museum for the duration of the exhibition, with a focus on the bombing of March 28, 1944, which cost the lives of some two hundred people. The images document the hardships of the civilian population, including evacuees and refugees, and the subsequent reconstruction process.

A rich program of events will accompany the exhibition. It will begin on March 26 with writer Salvatore Giannella, who will present the stories of Italy’s “saviors of art.” This will be followed by meetings with historian Lorenzo Benadusi (April 12), musician Dario Falcone (April 24), and scholars Laura Mariani and Carlotta Sorba (May 21), and will close on June 5 with an in-depth look at Mestre and Marghera during the war and reconstruction.

In the immersive room M9 Horizons, the video installation ESCALATION >< INVOLUTION by artist Alessandro Zannier, supported by OOM, will be screened. The work reflects on the correlation between cultural degradation and environmental damage, in line with the themes of the exhibition.

The exhibition is supported by Intesa Sanpaolo as Main Sponsor, Duferco Energia and Edison as Sponsors, with the participation of the Venice Rovigo Chamber of Commerce, Generali - Venice San Marco Agency and VeneziaèUnica. Media partnership is with Rai Radio 3 and Rai Cultura, with the sponsorship of Rai Veneto.

Statements

“This exhibition has a special significance for our museum, not only because of the extraordinary value of the works on display, authentic masterpieces by artists who marked the history of painting between the 19th and 20th centuries, but also because of the strength of the links it seeks to create: between two cities, Mes tre and Le Havre, but also between the exhibition itself and visitors,” said M9 museum director Serena Bertolucci. “MuMa’s paintings appear like flowers amid the ruins of the French city and are a clear sign of the reach that culture and museums can provide for rebirth: we hope that the history that these works tell can be picked up by those who will observe them, to commit to a participatory culture, shared and made accessible to all and sundry.”

“It is with great excitement that MuMa lends part of its collection for the first time, breathing new life into the link between art, history and identity that marked the birth of Le Havre’s first museum in 1845,” said Geraldine Lefebvre, MuMa Director and curator of the exhibition. “From its origins, the city chose culture as its founding act, betting on building a museum even before it had collections to house there. Today we can say that that bet was a winner: the ability of a cultural institution to preserve and regenerate the cu ltura of an area, which after World War II was the lever for the reconstruction of the museum and the city itself, is something we immediately recognized in M9 as well. For this reason we are happy to exhibit our works here on a very special occasion for us.”

“This exhibition recounts the cultural fervor of Le Havre, the birthplace of painters who wrote one of the most evocative pages of world art history, such as Claude Monet and Raoul Dufy, and its relevance as an aggregating center of artists, movements, ideas,” added curator Marianne Mathieu. “The extraordinariness of this heritage, both tangible and intangible, was recognized early on by the community and allowed the masterpieces on display today to be saved from the bombings: this is the highest testimony of how art can be a fulcrum of participation and citizenship.”

Hours: Wednesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

For info: www.m9museum.it

M9 Mestre, 51 works from MuMa in Le Havre celebrate the power of art in the face of war's destruction

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