Exhibits to see in the region in 2023
Exhibitions in Montpellier, Sète, Nîmes, Alès, Perpignan… Highlights of the 2023 season at the region’s museums.
Finally ! The art world has recently rediscovered the place of women in history and 2023 will make it possible to revise the position of sculptor Germaine Richier. Originally from Montpellier where he died in 1959, he made the connection between the generations of legacy of Auguste Rodin and Antoine Bourdelle and the pioneers of contemporary forms. Starting in spring, he will be in the spotlight at the Center Pompidou with a retrospective of 200 works (from 1 March to 12 June). The exhibition will then be seen this summer at the Musée Fabre (from 12 July to 5 November) featuring striking and complex displays of the human body, playing with metamorphosis and hybridization. Meanwhile, Djamel Tatah’s still body occupies space in an interesting and enigmatic way (until April 16).
Painting will be a year-round highlight in Montpellier, with the “Immortelle” project, which will take place at both locations, in Moco (from 11 March to 4 June) and in Panacée (from 11 March to 7 May). ) for a very wide panorama of French landscapes, since the 70s More than a hundred artists will be gathered, including Claire Tabouret, Marlène Moquet, Stéphane Pencreach or Damien Deroubaix. Also painted this summer in Moco with a retrospective of the German painter, Neo Rauch (from 8 July to 15 October), leader of the new Leipzig school, a contemporary German figurative painting movement.
Painting in the spotlight
Painting still in Sète, with Martial Raysse in the Paul-Valéry museum. After ’60s eyeballs pop and New Realist, the artist ditched neon for a spectacular brushstroke return (June 17 to November 5). This fair promises to be one of the highlights of the summer. The museum will primarily display paintings from the last 20 years, but also drawings and sculptures. To find specifically, some fifteen borrowed works from the Pinault Collection, some of which have never been shown to the public.
In Sète, the International Museum of Modest Arts will explore how artists take over digital tools to create shapes and objects with the “Fait machine” (from 17 February to 12 November). The Regional Center for Contemporary Art will propose an atypical project around educator Fernand Deligny, who has created a network of residences for autistic people in Cévennes (from 11 February to 29 May). Specially created by her editor Sandra Alvarez de Toledo and her former collaborator Jacques Lin, the exhibition will spread her cartography on a grand scale and her work around drawing and cinema, in conjunction with contemporary creations by Florian Fouché.
30 years Carré d’art
For 30 years, the Carré d’art museum in Nîmes has established itself as a must on the French contemporary scene. The museum celebrates its anniversary with great fanfare, unveiling its very rich collection. Starting in spring, historical objects will be on display, especially works by the Support/Surface movement. Summer will continue with newer cuts, with carte blanche to Walid Raad, Tarik Kiswanson, Suzanne Lafont. The collection will also be spread across all the city’s museums and Oliver Laric will be staying at the Museum of Romanitas to revisit ancient heritage in a contemporary way.
This season will be the foreshadowing of the new events devoted to contemporary art (biannual, triannual or festival?) that the city of Nîmes wants to create from 2024.
In Perpignan, the Hyacinthe-Rigaud museum will display a “Guino-Renoir or sculpture of the fourth dimension” (from 25 June to 5 November) devoted to the work of the Catalan artist originally from Girona, Richard Guino who co-signed the sculpture by Auguste Renoir, present in the collection museum.
Beautiful season at the Pierre-André-Benoit library museum in Alès, first of all with the colors “Beau temps according to Anne Slacik” (from 17 February to 4 June). Known to lovers of the artist’s book, the painter is always on the cutting edge of figuration, with broad lines and materials that are fluid and luminous. Next summer, the museum will continue its exploration of the great figures of modernity in collaboration with the Cévenol publisher, Pierre-André Benoit. This year, Georges Braque will be honored (July 14 to October 29). This institution has several works of cubism, it will present his drawn and engraved work in a very broad way through all technical facets, artist books, poetry. The chance to fly on the wings of the birds that inhabit the creations of Braque and his Alesian friends.
To find a little further…
Art lovers who are a bit wandering can start the year in Aix-en-Provence, with an exhibition dedicated to the painter David Hockney, at the Granet museum, held thanks to a loan from the Tate Britain collection (from 28 January to 28 May). A few steps away, Hôtel de Caumont still presents “Yves Klein, intimate” (until March 26) before continuing with a monograph by Max Ernst exploring his relationship with the elements (from May 4 to October 8).
Still on the other side of the Rhône, by pushing into Mucem in Marseille, it is possible to discover “Alexandria: the future before” (from 8 February to 8 May), a project that combines Egyptian archeology and contemporary art. .
For now, Arles’ summer, which is usually sunny, remains unclear. On the other hand, Avignon will be an important destination. On the occasion of gallery owner Yvon Lambert’s donated edition of the catalog, the Lambert Collection presents “Intimate art history” (from March 24), for a broad journey through the contemporary creations of the 1960s to the present day.
In 2023, the art world will celebrate 50 years since the death of Pablo Picasso. The Paris Museum organizes a cycle of exhibitions for this event. A stage will take place at the Goya museum in Castres, which will evoke the relationship between the two Spaniards (from 30 June to 1 October). The year will end on a high note in Toulouse at Les Abattoirs, which is currently hosting the Niki de Saint-Phalle exhibition (until 5 March) and will end the season with Alberto Giacometti (from 22 September).
