Berthe Weill and the Parisian Avant-Garde with Curators Lynn Gumpert and Sophie Eloy

A conversation with curators Lynn Gumpert and Sophie Eloy on the legacy of a pioneering art dealer who shaped modern art. Filmed on 10/15/2025 with a live audience both in person and on Zoom. Curators Lynn Gumpert and Sophie Eloy discussed the Musée de l’Orangerie’s current exhibition “Berthe Weill. Galeriste d’avant-garde,” which traces the story of one of the first female art dealers in Paris. A pioneering figure of the early 20th century, Weill championed avant-garde artists such as Picasso and Modigliani, helping to shape the course of modern art. This event offered a unique behind-the-scenes look at the exhibition and the curatorial vision that brings Weill’s remarkable influence to life at one of Paris’s most celebrated museums. This event was in partnership with the American Friends Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie. About the speakers: Lynn Gumpert has organized exhibitions on four continents. For 28 years, she served as Director of New York University’s Grey Art Museum. There she oversaw over 80 exhibitions, including Make Way for Berthe Weill: Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-Garde (2024–25) and The Downtown Show: The New York Art Scene, 1974–1984 (2006). From 1980–88, she worked at the New Museum, NY, and, in 1992, authored a monograph on Christian Boltanski (Flammarion). In 1999, the French government named her Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters. Sophie Eloy is an art historian. She has held positions at the National Contemporary Art Fund, the Louvre Museum’s Department of Paintings, and the Musée de la Vie Romantique in Paris, where she was deputy director from 2011 to 2018. Since 2018, she has been part of the conservation team at the Musée de l’Orangerie, where she works as a collection curator, with particular responsibility for the Contemporary Counterpoints program. She has curated exhibitions by Philippe Cognée, Amélie Bertrand, David Claerbout, Wolfgang Laib, and Isabelle Cornaro. She has also curated a number of exhibitions, including “Sam Szafran. Obsessions d’un peintre“ with Julia Drost and ”Berthe Weill, galeriste d’avant-garde” alongside Anne Grace, Lynn Gumpert, and Marianne Le Morvan in the fall of 2025. Rachel Donadio, the Library’s Curator of Cultural Programs, is a Paris-based writer, journalist and critic, a contributing writer for the Atlantic, a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former European Culture Correspondent and Rome Bureau Chief of the New York Times. About the American Friends Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie: American Friends Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie (AFMO) is a non-profit organization with a mission to raise public awareness and financial support for the Musée d’Orsay and its sister institution, the Musée de l’Orangerie. AFMO provides critical support for the museums’ special exhibitions, education programs, conservation efforts, and gallery improvements. Since its founding in 2009, AFMO has nurtured French-American friendship and partnerships in the arts on behalf of the two museums. This event was part of Ways of Seeing, a special series exploring the connections between storytelling, creativity, and the visual world. Evenings with an Author is generously sponsored by GRoW @ Annenberg.