Emerging from the woods, visitors are invited to take off their shoes before diving beneath the surface of the Provençal farmhouse, where they can discover over sixty works of art from the collection, as well as major loans and new productions.
Alice aux Pays des Merveilles (Alice in Wonderland) – a lithograph by Max Ernst and the first acquisition of Édouard Carmignac – is the starting point for a wall drawing by Fabrice Hyber, which immerses viewers upon entering the exhibition. Their underground journey through a succession of rooms flooded with sunlight is a metaphor for the regenerative and vital force of a source.
When visitors stand under the ceiling light of the water, the pivotal point of the show, they can contemplate the cross arrangement of the exhibition spaces freed from the cymae and look at all the works from the most meditative to the most committed.
La Carmignac collection is revisited by exploring two main axes: the female body (Egon Schiele, Roy Lichtenstein, Thomas Ruff…) and abstraction, which can sometimes be expressionist (Gerhard Richter, Theaster Gates, Susan Rothenberg …). While viewers can observe and feel observed within this unique architecture, the selection of emblematic works in the collection are also juxtaposed with new paintings, sculptures and installations: their presence seems pure (Black Totem by De Wain Valentine), radiant ( the iron of Cyprien Gaillard mano), transformative (mutation of issues of Forrest Bess) or simply disturbing (the ambiguous mirror reproduction of Elmgreen and Dragset).
Maurizio Cattelan, as for him, it mischievously condenses his most iconic works into a single sculpture.
Alongside the new ephemeral productions of Bertrand Lavier e Koo Jeong-A, other spaces come out.
On the ground floor, the sharp humor of the English artist Sarah Lucas fills the house with chimeras for his first solo exhibition in France, comprising a significant ensemble of over fifteen works of art.
In the gardens, the new works are joined by a dozen permanent installments, including sculptures by Jeppe Hein, Ugo Rondinone and Ed Ruscha.
This year, the show program includes the birth of a sound by Pauline Sikirdji, a vision by Barbara Carlotti, as well as a gesture by Yoann Bourgeois. Beginning in June on full moon nights, visitors will also be invited to immerse themselves in the island's sculpture gardens and seascape, guided by the voices of Patti Smith and Charlotte Gainsbourg through a special production by the Soundwalk collective.
Warning: This exhibition contains some works which may offend the sensibilities of visitors, especially young audiences.
