Ernest Pignon-Ernest Donates Hundreds of Works to Carpentras Museum

Ernest Pignon-Ernest, a pioneer of street art in France, has donated several hundred works to the Inguimbertine library-museum in Carpentras. The donation includes studies, sketches, drawings, paintings, photographs, prints, and books spanning his 60-year career. The artist began his first in situ intervention in 1966 in the Vaucluse region, stenciling a silhouette from a Hiroshima photograph on walls and rocks to protest nuclear missiles. His works often address political themes, such as the Communards at Sacré-Cœur in Paris and women holding children who died of AIDS in Soweto (2002). Pignon-Ernest has exhibited at institutions including ARC/MAM Paris, Galerie Lelong & Co, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Beijing, and the Neue Pinakothek in Munich. He has been a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts since 2021. The donation coincides with the exhibition 'Ombres de Naples' opening May 23 at the Inguimbertine, which already holds collections from Peiresc, d'Inguimbert, Barjavel, Laurens, Raspail, and Jouve. This gift establishes Carpentras as a reference center for the artist's work and introduces contemporary art to the museum.