Georges Pompidou's Art Passion Explored at Château de Chambord
An exhibition at the Château de Chambord examines Georges Pompidou's relationship with contemporary art, featuring 90 works by 67 artists. Pompidou, president from 1969 to 1974, was a discerning collector who amassed some 150 works, starting with Max Ernst's La Femme 100 têtes at age 18. His collection included modern masters (Kupka, Braque, Matta), abstraction (Fontana, Hartung, Poliakoff, Bissière, Bram Van Velde), kinetic art (Agam, Bury, Cruz-Diez), Nouveau Réalisme (Deschamps, Klein, Villeglé, Tinguely), and figuration (Nicolas de Staël, Nouvelle Figuration). As prime minister, he hung a Soulages in his office; as president, he commissioned Pierre Paulin and Yaacov Agam for the Élysée. The show juxtaposes his avant-garde taste with his political conservatism, recalling the 1972 Grand-Palais exhibition fiasco where artists protested state intervention. A cabinet of drawings and period documents complements the display.
Key facts
- Exhibition at Château de Chambord explores Pompidou's art passion
- 90 works by 67 artists on display
- Pompidou was a collector of about 150 works
- He bought Max Ernst's La Femme 100 têtes at age 18
- As prime minister, he hung a Soulages in his office
- He commissioned Pierre Paulin and Yaacov Agam for the Élysée
- Show includes modern masters, abstraction, kinetic art, Nouveau Réalisme, figuration
- 1972 Grand-Palais exhibition ended with police intervention
Entities
Artists
- Georges Pompidou
- Claude Pompidou
- Max Ernst
- Pierre Soulages
- Pierre Paulin
- Yaacov Agam
- František Kupka
- Georges Braque
- Sebastian Matta
- Lucio Fontana
- Hans Hartung
- Serge Poliakoff
- Roger Bissière
- Bram Van Velde
- Jean Tinguely
- Nicolas de Staël
- Arman
- César
- Marcel Duchamp
- Yves Klein
- Jacques Villeglé
- Jesus Rafael Soto
- Carlos Cruz-Diez
- Pol Bury
- Martial Raysse
- Daniel Spoerri
- Niki de Saint Phalle
- Jean-Pierre Raynaud
- Bernard Rancillac
- Hervé Télémaque
- Peter Klasen
- Jacques Monory
- Eduardo Arroyo
- Gilles Aillaud
- Antonio Recalcati
- Henri Michaux
- Jean Dubuffet
- Alberto Giacometti
- Pablo Picasso
- Henri Matisse
- Fernand Léger
- Robert Delaunay
- Sonia Delaunay
- Piet Mondrian
- Wassily Kandinsky
- Paul Klee
- Joan Miró
- Alexander Calder
- Constantin Brâncuși
- René Magritte
- Salvador Dalí
- Francis Bacon
- Mark Rothko
- Jackson Pollock
- Willem de Kooning
- Andy Warhol
- Roy Lichtenstein
- Jasper Johns
- Robert Rauschenberg
- Claes Oldenburg
- James Rosenquist
- Tom Wesselmann
- David Hockney
- Francis Picabia
- Kurt Schwitters
- Marcel Broodthaers
- Joseph Beuys
- Nam June Paik
- Wolf Vostell
- Ben Vautier
- Yoko Ono
- John Cage
- Merce Cunningham
Institutions
- Centre Georges Pompidou
- Château de Chambord
- Rothschild
- Matignon
- Élysée
- Ministère de la Culture
- Grand-Palais
- artpress
Locations
- Paris
- France
- Beaubourg
- Chambord
Sources
- artpress —