Curator Sophie Makariou, president of the museum and Thierry Zéphir, collections manager of the South-East Asian division put together 159 works of art over four years to present visitors with the keys to understand the legend of the Buddha.

Buddhism is the fourth religion in the world, according to the number of followers, after Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Drawing from the rich collection of the museum's masterpieces, the major stages of the Buddha's life are depicted, from his birth in the Lumbini park in the south of Nepal until his demise at Kushinagara in the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh.

The curator juxtaposed the representations of Lord Buddha himself in many iconicgraphic and aesthetic versions developed in different countries of Asia, from Afghanistan to Japan, and from China to Indonesia, where paintings, statuaries and even architecture have the place of honour.

The evocation of the destiny of a man possessing exceptional intellectual and moral qualities, the Buddha's life unfolds like an epic of the spirit.

The museum tour follows ten sequences from the scenes of former lives as the son of a king in India until the transformation of the image of Buddha in Asia, from his first sermon and the monastic community of arhats. It recalls the circumstances when Buddha Shakyamuni appeared in India circa 5th century BC until the evocation of his Enlightenment.

Throughout the variety and richness of Asian arts depicting the Life of Buddha unfolds visually, contributing to the understanding of one of the world's great religions.Buddhism is often compared to a tree with three big branches. Considered to be the closest to Buddha's original teachings, the Theravada school (School of the Ancients)dominates in Sri Lanka and most countries of South-East Asia. The Mahayana School (Great Vehicle) is present in Vietnam and the Far East, while the Vajrayana School (Diamond Vehicle) is most developped in the Himalayas, but is also present in China and Japan acording to the organizers of the exhibition.