Private Lives, from the Bedroom to Social Media

The Musée des Arts Décoratifs will take you on a fascinating journey into the heart of our inner sanctum through a history of privacy, from the 18th century to the present day. 470 works, including paintings and photographs, as well as decorative art objects, reveal how the private sphere has evolved. From the bedroom as seen by Henri Cartier-Bresson or Nan Goldin and 19th-century wrought-iron beds to the “lit-clos” of the Bouroullec brothers’, from the commode chair to the urinal for women, from waterless hygiene products to the bathroom, from aristocratic beauty to mass consumption, from licentious books to sex toys, from the Walkman to social networks and influence, through the tools of surveillance and protection, the exhibition shows how privacy came to be, and the profound changes it has undergone since then. The increasingly blurred and porous boundaries between private and public have sparked much debates.