Fragonard Still Naughty

The Musée du Luxembourg in Paris is opening an exhibit on Fragonard tomorrow called Fragonard amoureux, galant et libertin. An article by Frédéric Lewino (Visitez avant tout le monde l'exposition libertine de Fragonard, September 15) for Le Point has a video that includes many of the paintings in the show (my translation):

A worthy son of his century (the licentious 18th), "Le divin Frago" loved to depict country affairs with a saucy brush, inspired by the poissarde (lower class) literary genre. According to one witness, the artist supposedly declared, in typical southern eloquence, "I will paint with my ass."

In addition to his famous "intrigue paintings," Fragonard made illustrations for erotic stories, including the Contes by Jean de la Fontaine, tales that take quite a different tone from that author's celebrated fables. The exhibit brings together sixty-three works and remains open to the public through January 24.