© Réunion des Musées Nationaux

This exhibition—of an exceptional breadth—brought together 130 Greek art objects, allowing visitors to see pieces from the Musée du Louvre which had never been seen outside its walls since they entered its collections.

Focusing on Athens, the exhibition emphasized a particularity of Greek culture, the enhancement of the spirit of competition, giving rise to the development of three specific cultural practices: sport, banqueting and theatre.

These masterpieces of sculpture (marble, bronze, terracotta), ceramics (painted vases) and metal work, offered a veritable panorama of Greek civilization at its political and artistic apogee, in what is known as the Classical period, 5th and 6th centuries BC.

Berlin Painter (attributed to)
Attic red-figure Krater with lug handles (det.), circa 500 - 490 BC
Terracotta, 33 cm (H), 33 cm (D)