L'appel des profondeurs. Une aventure sous les mers de l'Antiquité à nos jours

Musée National de la Marine / Palais de Chaillot

In Paris, the exhibition « L'appel des profondeurs. Une aventure sous les mers de l'Antiquité à nos jours », running from 14 October 2026 to 4 April 2027, constitutes the highlight of the cycle « L'appel des profondeurs ». Through nearly 280 works, it explores humanity's fascination with the abyss, between science, imagination and the conquest of the depths. A major exhibition at the heart of the cycle « L'appel des profondeurs » The culmination of the cycle deployed across the network of the musée national de la Marine, « L'appel des profondeurs », this major exhibition presented in Paris in autumn 2026 offers an immersion into the long history of underwater exploration. Through the arts, literature, science and technology, it examines the reasons that led human societies to cross the limits of the visible world in order to explore the ocean depths. Exploring a hostile and inaccessible world Beneath the surface, human beings confront an extreme environment: pressure, darkness, cold and isolation make the seabed naturally inaccessible. To this physical barrier is added a symbolic and cultural frontier: since Antiquity, the abyss has nourished myths and tales populated with fantastical creatures. The exhibition thus questions this tension between fear and fascination: why seek to explore such a hostile world? From Antiquity to the present day: a scientific and cultural epic Between imagination and reality, the global history of this great epic unfolds over more than 800m², in a chronological journey from Antiquity to the present day, inviting visitors on a voyage to the four corners of the globe. Around 280 pieces are presented, some of them exceptional and rarely exhibited, drawn from the collections of major institutions: biological specimens, archaeological objects, ethnographic collections, manuscripts, scientific instruments, diving suits, ship mock-ups and models, paintings, photographs, sculptures, decorative arts, contemporary artworks and video installations. Composed of four major chronological sections, the exhibition is conceived as a chronological immersion into the rich history of humanity's underwater adventures. In a scenography with a mysterious, hushed atmosphere that stimulates the imagination and invites contemplation, the public plunges to the depths of the Cretaceous before rising back through the centuries to the present day. Like moments to catch one's breath, four thematic cabinets punctuate the visit to explore universal subjects: founding narratives, cosmogonies and great initiatory and legendary frescoes; the octopus, a multifaceted tentacled animal; sunken worlds, between fantasized visions of lost cities and underwater habitat projects; and finally the mermaid, the quintessential mythical underwater figure. Between imagination, scientific figures and world cultures From sea monsters to the installations of visual artist Monira Al Qadiri, from the explorations of commandant Cousteau to the advances of oceanographer Marie Tharp, by way of the adventures of Aquaman, the cinema of Jean Painlevé, or the exploits of the Ama, Japan's free-diving fisherwomen, a sensitive dive into fascinating worlds awaits visitors!

Source: Paris Open Data ↗