France’s Art Museums Remain Silent on Haiti
On April 17, 2025, the bicentennial of France's 1825 decree imposing a massive indemnity on Haiti for its independence, French President Macron announced a joint commission of historians to study the debt's impact. While some institutions like Bordeaux's Musée d'Aquitaine and Paris's Palais de Tokyo engaged with the topic through exhibitions, France's major public art museums and national monuments remained largely silent. Two exhibitions devoted to King Charles X—the monarch who enforced the debt—at the Mobilier National and Château de Maisons highlighted this absence, as they failed to address his role in Haiti's history.