Private lives, from the bedroom to social media

From October 15, 2024 to March 30,
2025, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs
takes 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.
The chief curator is Christine Macel,
Director of the Musée des Arts
Décoratifs. along with curator Fulvio
Irace, design and architecture historian.
The scenography is designed by Italian
architect Italo Rota.

Through twelve themes, the exhibition,
presented in the nave of the museum
and the side galleries, opens through
a gigantic keyhole. In an intimate
setting, five themes are explored in the
garden‑side gallery: women and privacy,
the bedroom, places of convenience,
hygiene and beauty, and perfume.

Women and privacy

In the 19th century, with the emergence
of a middle class, professional and
family life grew separate, with women
in charge of the household and the
private sphere. Painters – most men,
such as Edouard Vuillard, who opens the
exhibition – often depicted them in their
homes. It was only gradually, thanks
to feminist revolutions, that the “feminine
mystique” described in Betty Friedan’s
book began to dissociate itself from the
enclosed space.

Places of convenience

Objects from the 18th century such as the
Bourdaloue, a portable chamber pot used
by women to urinate in public, commode
chairs and bidets are compared with
recent urinals and toilets, such as Toto’s
latest model. The modern invention
of hygiene and privacy has transformed
these so-called “places of convenience”,
which became taboo in the 19th century,
something that 20th-century artists such
as Judy Chicago and Sarah Lucas play
on in their work.

A room of one’s own

The word “bedroom” first appeared in the
18th century. A large library of books on the
bedroom is presented, from Marcel Proust
to Michelle Perrot. From Ramon Casas
to Martine Locatelli, new representations
emerge, from the afternoon nap to the
teenager’s bedroom. In Georges Pérec’s
The man who sleeps, the bed becomes
a living space, while for the writer Colette
and artist Ben it is a place to work
or create. Today, we all want a “bed
of our own”.

Bathing

For a long time, water was associated
with miasmas, before the advent
of modern hygiene research. The room
brings together old pitchers and dressing
tables, the 19th-century bathtub, depicted
by Edgar Degas and Alfred Stevens,
and the ceramic bathtub, with the
appearance of the bathroom, that became
commonplace in the 1950s. Yesterday’s
luxury has become today’s ordinary.

Intimate beauty and fragrance

The construction of appearance takes
place mostly away from the scrutiny
of the outside world. Some of the items
associated with it have changed or even
disappeared according to fashions,
revealing sociological turning points.
Powder compacts, mirrors and lipsticks
all reflect the uniformity of women’s
appearance until the 1960s.

Recent times have paved the way for
greater diversity, inclusiveness and gender
fluidity. Fragrance is revealed either in very
close physical proximity, or through a more
readily shared “trail”. Consequently,
both say a great deal about the kind
of relationship we wish to establish with
others, from smelling good to sensual
invitation. From eau de Cologne to Yves
Saint Laurent’s fragrance Opium to Caron’s
Tabac blond, perfume, and its bottle,
reveal a great deal about us.

Promiscuity and isolation

The exhibition continues in the nave with
spectacular scenography focusing on
twenty-five masterpieces of 20th-century
design, around the theme of the nest and
shared intimacy. Design from the 1950s
to the present day, through seats, sofas
and beds, illustrates a constant dialectic
between thea desire for isolation and
a chosen promiscuity.

Pieces such as Eero Saarinen’s Womb
Chair testify to the protective withdrawal
of the 1950s and 1960s, while designs
by Superstudio, Archizoom and Memphis
reflect the desire for togetherness typical
of the 1960s and 1970s.

The exhibition continues at the back of the
nave and in the rue de Rivoli side galleries,
covering six themes that explore the most
contemporary changes, from sexuality
to social networks, through content
creation and surveillance techniques.
It also examines the question of privacy
in times of insecurity, and ends
with a room dedicated to that most
precious form of privacy: the diary
as a conversation with the self. Finally,
a piece by Thomas Hirschhorn, quoting
the philosopher Simone Weil, invites us
to reflect on the possibilities of social
networks and consider a new humanism.

Intimacy and sexuality

From Fragonard’s The lock to the
licentious books of the 18th century,
works of art reveal the male gaze. At the
time, homosexuality was rarely portrayed
and was judged negatively. In the 20th
century, representations of all forms
of sexuality came to the fore, from
David Hockney to Nan Goldin or Zanele
Muholi. New objects, such as vibrators
and sex toys designed by everyone from
Matali Crasset to Tom Dixon, becmae
increasingly popular and are presented
in a large showcase at the back
of the nave.

The connected bedroom

New technologies have done much
to change the way we define and
experience privacy. The Sony Walkman
from the late 1970s, the pink Minitel
from the 1980s, and mobile phones that
appeared in the 1990s are all on display,
as is reality TV with Loft story, from
the early 2000s, and Hella Jongerius’s
connected bed, which reflects the new
connected bedroom.

From social networks to influence

Back in 1947, a film by the director
J.K Raymond Millet imagined the birth
of a multi-screen world with startling
prescience.

Content creators showcase their
Instagram accounts as their own concept
of intimacy, from Lena Situations to Sophie
Fontanel, while Evan Baden’s photographs
alert us to the danger of self-exposure.

Surveillance and protection

New technologies of surveillance and
protection have led to profound changes
in our relationship with intimacy and
our private lives, whether in the public
or private sphere. This room features
surveillance cameras, geolocation and
tracking technologies, facial recognition
objects, drones and connected objects,
sources of both opportunities and risks.

Precarious privacy

What is left of our privacy, and how can
we protect it when we find ourselves
in a precarious situation, deprived
of a space of our own, be it through
homelessness, as a migrant, as a prisoner
or as a patient?

Kosuke Tsumura’s survival design answers
this question. When shelter is scarce, the
public bench and makeshift blanket help
to recreate the nest we need for sleep,
as Matthieu Pernod reveals.

The ultimate privacy

Beyond the private sphere, privacy
consists of what we keep within
ourselves, our thoughts, dreams and
imagination.

This is the ultimate privacy and
cannot be taken away. The very idea
of a conversation with the self reached its
peak in the 19th century with the practice
of journaling, which endures in other
forms such as the blog, as illustrated
by a selection of newspapers from
the 19th century to the present day.