MNHA

This Wiltheim-space presents from 12^th July a number of large-scale works from the Fine Arts collection. Throughout history, artists felt compelled to express themselves extensively on large surfaces.

The selection brings together contemporary artists from different artistic movements (Nouvelle Figuation, Pop Art, Figuration libre, etc.) Bar one exception, they all share a certain megalomania and use painting as their means of expression. Moreover, figurative art occupies a central place in their oeuvre.

The most important representatives of the Nouvelle Figuration or Figuration narrative (Monory, Erró, Télémaque, Fromanger, Fougeron) dominate the hanging. Their subjects critically broach the reality of everyday life.

The British Pop Art painter Patrick Caulfield is represented through his work Desk (1991), a work laden with images of our modern society.

The American artist Alex Katz, another member of the Pop Art movement, show us with Jessica (2005) the timeless portrait of a woman. Its stylistic simplicity resonates in the composition as well as in the choice of colours. Inspired by Andy Warhol as well as billboards, the femme fatale in Feng Zhengjie’s Work Regards vers l’est, regards vers l’ouest no. 1 (Glances to the East, Glances to the West) (2002) reflects a futuristic pop vision.

Among the Luxembourg artist on display, we find Jean-Marie Biwer with Ciel n° 3 (Sky no. 3) and Aline Bouvy with her works You. Gorgeous and Interruption in the Social Contract (2014). Austere yet erotic, she gives us her own personal view of humanity.

Finally, the monumental work Casual Passer-By I met at 4:43 PM, Luxembourg (2010), de Braco Dimitrijevic, created in Luxembourg in the context of the European Month of Photography 2011, questions historic representations and values conveyed in photographic images.

Contemporary Art: new permanent exhibition on the 5^th floor

The works on display in this space are contemporary art acquisitions made by the MNHA over the last thirty years.

On the landing, Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte (1898-1967) draws the visitor's attention to a closed door. The artist endeavours to question the realism in painting: with "banal" depictions, he aims to throw the viewer of balance by suggesting that the image does not refer to an object, but rather to the thought of the artist. Le modèle vivant (The Living Model) is a gouache dated 1952, with an oil version created a year later. For Magritte, painting was a means of deepening the knowledge of the world, "albeit a knowledge inseparable from its mystery".

The contemporary creation entitled Peste et cholera (Pest and Cholera) by artist duo Martine Feipel and Jean Bechameil draws its inspiration from Magritte's gouache.

It symbolises the possibility of escape to a world of deconstructed and distorted objects.

The painting of English artist Patrick Caulfield (1936-2005), often approaching pop art, is closer to the Nouvelle Figuration movement, with compositions attached to images of the modern world. His painting Bend in the road is a reference to Paul Cézanne's La route tournante of 1905, reduced to three colours and black contours.

Luxembourg contemporary art also makes an appearance on our walls. Su-Mei Tse, winner of the Golden Lion for best national participation at the 2003 Venice Biennale, takes pride of place with a still from L'Écho (The Echo), one of two films awarded a prize by the Venice foundation; it features a cellist playing her instrument while facing a mountain and sitting on a chair in the grass.

Contemporary photography occupies a growing place in the fine arts collection. Bearing witness to this are several recent acquisitions following exhibitions in the context of the European Month of Photography.