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Museum Connections
Now that I’ve visited 5 art museums in France, I’m starting to become familiar with some of the artists whose work has been shown in several places. This type of exposure is the best way to really learn about the artists and their work. I got so excited when I started recognizing the same artists at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nice that I’d first encountered in the Centre Pompidou in Metz.
To begin with, when we arrived at the MAMAC-Nice, we saw a Niki de Saint Phalle statue (“Monstre du Lochness”) and we recognized the bright tiles, mirrors, and geometry as resembling a statue outside of the Metz train station. Sure enough, that piece (“Dragon”) was also done by Niki de Saint Phalle!
One of the exhibits in the MAMAC displayed the work of Yves Klein. His work didn’t stand out to me at the Centre Pompidou, but upon seeing his work again in Nice, I started to notice his style and learn more about it. Initially, his pieces look like big blue whales and squid swimming in a sea. But after watching a video about his work, I learned that the blue blobs were actually created by women painting their bodies and lying on the canvas.
But the recurring artist I was most excited about was Ben Vautier (another connection - he is credited with discovering Yves Klein), whose piece was my favorite in the Centre Pompidou. I posted a picture of his piece there, but here it is again:
Le Magasin de Ben, Centre Pompidou-Metz
His piece in MAMAC-Nice was slightly less chaotic, but the style was still immediately recognizable:
His work is characterized by phrases in all different languages painted on solid colors. These phrases reveal his philosophy. Vautier sought to expand the definition of art and decompose any rigid categorizations. Indeed, his pieces contain anything and everything, and despite the eclectic hodge-podge of elements, it all seems to fit together. Though strange to encounter a piece of African art hanging on the wall next to an empty bucket of paint, he finds a way to make it work.
Comment savoir si c’est de l’art ou pas? - How do you know if it’s art or not?
This label - “Attention: one culture can hide another” suggests his interest in embracing and appreciating all cultures rather than just focusing on one (just as he avoids focusing on one rigid definition of art). His cultural philosophy can be seen in the fact that he uses many different languages for the phrases he writes all over his pieces.
