THE MUSEUM OF SAINT-DENIS* DEVOTES ITS THIRD FLOOR TO LA COMMUNE, BUT ITS PRESENTATION WEAKENS
*This medieval town just north of Paris's northern is the site of the royal mausoleum. Industrialisation made it working class, Communist for a century (1921-2020), it is Socialist now.
On my first visit, toward 2015, a video on the métro platform announced the exhibit, which the museum showed in full:
When I returned in 2020, the video was gone from both metro and museum. I was told that there was an equipment problem that would take a long time to fix. In May 2025, it was still gone.
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Strong points:
- Paintings of the time
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| Marching Army by Alfred Rolls, 1871 |
The army plodding through the snow refers to the war with Prussia, but the scene is universal.
Anonymous
Communards continuing the aims of a killed comrade fits the spirit of the sources.
- Photographs and caricatures
Communards awaiting trial at Versailles. Bismarck and Thiers watch over a stew of Parisians that a demon cooks.
- Versailles's point of view
A Wedding during the Commune by Félix Guerie, no date |
Remain in the réserve...
- A Communard response:
Paris after the Commune by Frédéric Dix.no date
- This photo:
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Corpses of Communard Insurgents by Adolphe Eugène Disderi, the Emperor's photographer |
Blown up and seen figure by figure, the photos of these small and terribly vulnerable men are even more poignant. But it has taken a high-school teacher, not the museum, to do so: Please click and scroll down.
- For which he substitutes this modern adaptation.
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| The Commune - Corpses of Combattants by Arnulf Rainer, 1929 |
That an artist would add his personal expression shows a lack of respect for these small, terribly vulnerable men.
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Showing Versaillais stress on minimal Communard violence would be fine with an explanatory note. But why exhibit two almost interchangeable paintings with no comment...
Exécution d'otages à la prison de La Roquette 1871 à 8h du soir par T. Harreguy
Arrêt d'un officier par la Garde nationale fédérée à l'entrée de la Mairie [City Hall ] du 8e arrondissement [district ] by Emmanuel Massé, 1870 (That date is impossible: the federated Guard was created on February 15, 1871.)
And add disinformation?
Emmanuel Massé, portraitist and genre painter, here shows an officer of the Empire arrested at the 8th district city hall. Arrests were very frequent, as often by the Communards as by the Versaillais who encircled Paris. The prisoners allowed pressure on the adverse camp and the summary executions nourished the insurgents' ardor in their desire for vengeance.
For the reality, please click.
The information in the general descriptive panel could come out of the Versaillais account:
"Furious with the capitulating generals, the population improvises a tribunal that condemns them. That very evening, they are shot against a wall."
For that reality, please click again.
The left shifts with the general evolution.
But it may be getting back in shape:
End of this section.
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