Venus of Arles Returns Home After 375 Years: Louvre Masterpiece Debuts at Arles Antique Museum in Historic Exhibition

After more than three and a half centuries in Paris, one of the Louvre’s most treasured antiquities is returning to its place of discovery for a special summer exhibition. The Venus of Arles, a 1.94-metre-high marble sculpture dating to the end of the 1st century BC, will be displayed at the Musée départemental Arles antique from April 24 to October 31, 2026, as part of the exhibition titled “Le passage de Vénus.”

The sculpture, made of Hymettus marble and believed to be a Roman copy inspired by the work of the Greek sculptor Praxiteles, was unearthed in fragments in 1651 by workers digging a well near the Roman theatre of Arles. It was later presented to Louis XIV in 1681 and installed in the Galerie des Glaces at Versailles before entering the Louvre’s collection, where it has remained for over two centuries.

Today, the Venus of Arles is displayed near the Venus de Milo in the Louvre’s Salle 344, dedicated to Classical and Hellenistic Greek art. Its temporary return to Arles marks a significant cultural moment, not only because of its historical ties to the region but also due to the exceptional scale of the accompanying exhibition.

“Le passage de Vénus” features nearly eighty major works, thirty-three of which are drawn from the Louvre’s own collections. The exhibition explores the enduring myth and iconography of Venus through ancient representations, as well as modern interpretations by artists such as Gustave Moreau, Man Ray, and Andy Warhol. The scenography, designed by Nathalie Crinière, situates the sculpture within a broader narrative of the goddess’s lasting influence across epochs and artistic media.

The initiative for the loan comes from the Département des Bouches-du-Rhône in collaboration with the Louvre. The exhibition has received the “Exposition d’intérêt national” label, signifying its recognized cultural importance, and benefits from exceptional support by the French Ministry of Culture.

Arles, which backed Julius Caesar during the Roman civil wars, was rewarded with imperial favour, and the Venus of Arles reflects that legacy. The sculpture’s discovery site—the theatre’s scaenae frons—once featured a prominent statue of Augustus, underscoring the city’s alignment with imperial power. The Venus, as a divine ancestor of the gens Julia, was a fitting emblem of that alliance.

While the Venus of Arles has long been a cornerstone of the Louvre’s antiquities collection, its temporary departure allows audiences in Provence to engage with a masterpiece that has shaped artistic conceptions of beauty and divinity since antiquity. The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see the sculpture in dialogue with both its ancient origins and its continued resonance in modern art.

The Venus of Arles will remain on view in Arles until the end of October 2026, after which It’s scheduled to return to the Louvre. For visitors, the journey of the statue—from its burial in the ruins of a Roman theatre to its royal reception at Versailles, its centuries-long residence in Paris, and now its homecoming—embodies a layered history of art, power, and cultural memory.