Can I see it?
Where to See Poussin: The Louvre, London and Eight Cities
Fifteen paintings in eight cities, from the Louvre’s adjoining rooms to a pair divided between London and Melbourne. The Paris route has the most precise display information in our selection.
1 november 2026 · 6 min lezen · Redactie ART WIKI
Poussin was born in Normandy but spent most of his working life in Rome. He arrived there in 1624; a return to France as first painter to the king proved brief, and Rome became his permanent home. His pictures now require a different map. Start in Paris for a concentrated encounter with the paintings, then choose between collections that have only one or two of the subjects you want.
Paris and Chantilly
Five pictures make a manageable Louvre itinerary. On our autumn 2026 check, dated 26 September, Et in Arcadia ego, Spring, Summer and Winter were in Room 825, Richelieu Wing, level 2. The Plague at Ashdod was next door in Room 826. Those room numbers are a useful starting point for a visit, though the check records a past arrangement.
The tomb in Et in Arcadia ego interrupts an apparently peaceful gathering of shepherds. Its inscription has prompted competing readings: is Death announcing its presence even in Arcadia, or is the dead person recalling life there? Knowing the disagreement gives you something specific to examine in the gestures around the stone. There is no need to settle the translation before looking.
Poussin painted the Four Seasons late in life, between 1660 and 1664, for the Duc de Richelieu. This route includes three members of the set. Spring places Adam and Eve in Eden, Summer turns to Ruth and Boaz, and Winter depicts the Flood. The season changes with the biblical episode and the time of day. Allow these canvases a second look after the smaller human drama at the tomb.
Chantilly adds Massacre of the Innocents at the Musée Condé. It belongs on a separate excursion from Paris. Our record supplies the collection but no confirmed display status, so it cannot promise that a visit to the château will include the painting.
London, with a connection to Melbourne
Two London museums offer quite different ways into Poussin. The National Gallery owns The Adoration of the Golden Calf, while the Wallace Collection owns A Dance to the Music of Time. Neither record confirms a room or current display. Keep both museum names in the itinerary: these are separate stops, with separate collection information to check.
The dancers in A Dance to the Music of Time have been read as Poverty, Labour, Riches and Pleasure, caught in a cycle, although their identities are disputed. Time accompanies them on a lyre. The picture also supplied the title of Anthony Powell’s novel sequence, a reason some visitors arrive with a literary association before they know the painting.
A commission joins London to Australia. The Adoration of the Golden Calf and The Crossing of the Red Sea were ordered as a pair for Amadeo dal Pozzo and remained together until 1945. The latter belongs to the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne. Its display is also unconfirmed. Seeing both now means two journeys; reading them together can begin with their linked stories from Exodus.
New York and Chicago
At the Metropolitan Museum, Blind Orion Searching for the Rising Sun was on view in Gallery 638 on 29 September 2026. Poussin’s blinded giant is looking for the sunrise, in a subject drawn from ancient accounts. The same check placed Midas Washing at the Source of the Pactolus in Gallery 623. The two paintings therefore need separate gallery stops within one museum.
Chicago’s Art Institute recorded Landscape with Saint John on Patmos in Gallery 209 on 29 September. For a traveller choosing between American cities, New York offers the two named pictures here; Chicago offers another landscape with a religious subject. The selection is deliberately small enough to compare without confusing collection size with what is actually documented on the walls.
Saint Petersburg and Copenhagen
An older observation places Landscape with Polyphemus and Tancred and Erminia in the Hermitage’s Room 279 on 29 August 2026. Preserve that August date when planning: it precedes our autumn checks elsewhere. Copenhagen’s Statens Museum for Kunst listed The Testament of Eudamidas on view in Room 208A on 29 September.
For one day, choose the Louvre’s Rooms 825 and 826, then leave enough time to return to a picture that held your attention. Chantilly needs its own allowance. Before any longer journey, open the linked artwork records and the museum’s visitor information; a dated room observation is more useful when you know exactly how old it is.
Op de omslag: De aanbidding van het gouden kalf — Nicolas Poussin. Sailko · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
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