Hermann Nitsch Drawings at Musée d'art moderne de Saint-Étienne

The Musée d'art moderne de Saint-Étienne Métropole presents a major exhibition of Hermann Nitsch's drawings, from September 18 to November 28, marking the first time such a selection has been shown in France. The works reveal a coherent corpus with a unique aesthetic, offering insight into the Austrian artist's prolific imagination. Nitsch's drawings extend his performance practice, emphasizing the ritualistic dimension of his search for total art over nearly fifty years. Some large-format pieces serve as metaphorical plans for his Theatre of Mysteries and Orgies, with lines that blur surfaces and overflow margins, suggesting a Dionysian state. A colored score for the 9th Symphony (Egyptian Score, 2009) highlights his passion for musical composition. Many almost abstract drawings, dense with overlapping lines, evoke a geography of the human interior—intestines, organs, blood and nerve networks—turning the body inside out. The exhibition confronts viewers with radical questions about figuration in Western culture, presenting a shocking experience rarely encountered in the art world.