The excitement of something new, in
the city of art
The personal story of François Pinault: collector and contemporary art
The collection of François Pinault started out with something "not so contemporary", a work by Paul Sérusier titled Cour de ferme en Bretagne (he acquired it in 1972), his collection as now grow into contemporary works of arts. But, for the first time, he senses the collection between the Nabis, which led to the Cubism and the avant-gardes, and thought the 20th and 21st century.
All of this to say that those 10 000 works of arts devoted and constituted with contemporary art are in the mind and soul of François Pinault for decades. Therefore, the constitution of this art collection will provide him two things: a freshness of looking and multiple connection and relation with the artists he collected.
Beside his collector, the collection focus on works from all generations of contemporary artists, well-known or unknown, emerging or recognized names. All of them come from a wide range of cultures and origins, due to the growing importance of non-western art. Thus, the subject reflect this diversity with political commitment, social, racial and gender issues.
Shape-shifting
While the Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection opened this year, the cultural project and ambition of François Pinault started out in Italy, in the city of gondola and Peggy Guggenheim: Venice.
In 2006, the Inauguration of the Palazzo Grassi, and in 2009 the opening of the Punta della Dogana and the Teatrino opened up a new way of thinking and shaping the cultural hub, collection and ambition of the Pinault Collection in Europe.
The director will also improved his relation to the artist, mostly merging artist by creating a residency program in Lens (France) in 2013, and the Pierre Daix Price dedicated to art history.
The collection: a personal view on a selection of works
Urs Fischer, Untitled, 2011 (détail/detail)
Beside the imposing sculpture of the Swiss artist Urs Fischer, there are a few discoveries, this is my top 3.
Martin Kippenberger, Untitled (from the series Hand-Painted Pictures), 1992
The German artist Martin Kippenberger is a painter and a sculptor, born in 1953 in Germany. During his career, Kippenberger was "widely regarded as one of the most talented German artists of his generation" (comment from the Roberta Smith in 1997, in the New York Times).
Therefore, this work from the 1990s showcase a frontal view of a body (probably a man), wearing a short or an underwear. The color are limited to the shade of white, violet and light brown. But, as you look at the picture as a whole, the image feel incomplete, but full of movement and virtuosity.
Rudolf Stingel, Untitled (Franz West, after Friedl Kubelka), 2011
Lastly, my favorite artist of the exhibition “Ouverture”, Rudolf Stingel.
In one room, the artist present three portraits. The first depicts his New-York gallery representative Paula Cooper, the second show his friend Franz West and the last, dressed in a soldier’s uniform, the painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, an important figure of German Expressionism.
All of those portraits were made from small format photographs that the artist enlarged. Thus, the photos are full of roughness, defects, blurring or signs of aging, but also of connection between what we want to see, and what we want to blur out of these three personalities. The oeuvre of Rudolf Stingel is always between this two bridge: abstraction and figuration.
Sherrie Levine, After Russell Lee, 2016
Presented in one of the room of the second floor, the work After Russell Lee from 2016 showcase an ensemble of photograph. The subject, was made due to her contract with the Farm Security Administration in 1935, as a photograph of rural poverty during the Great Depression of the U.S.A.
Thus, by removing these picture from the context of the depression, it describes the rural life of the western part of the United States. Therefore, the 60 pictures, titled from 1 to 60 retrace the like and work of the photograph Russell Lee.
Sherrie Levine, After Russell Lee, 2016, © Sherrie Levine, Courtesy Sherrie Levine,
Informations about the exhibition
Place: Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection
Date: 22.05.2021 – 30.1.2022
Curators: François Pinault
Ticket: Available on the website of the Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection OR at the front desk of the museum
Informations about the Bourse de Commerce
Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection
2 rue de Viarmes
75001 Paris
Phone: +33 (0)1 55 44 60 60