Françoise Gilot: an exhibition to celebrate her 100th birthday

Una exhibition presenting some of the most important works of Gilot's career, to celebrate the artist's extraordinary life on his 21th birthday. Already one of the most respected members of her generation at the age of XNUMX, Françoise Gilot witnessed and helped define one of the last great periods of modern European art, alongside masters such as Braque, Chagall, Cocteau, Matisse and Picasso, with whom he had a ten-year relationship.

One of the most gifted creative minds of her generation in Europe, she dedicated her entire life to the continuous exploration of multiple creative disciplines between painting, printmaking and writing, as well as experimenting with creative tensions between abstraction and figuration. His creations have been exhibited in major museums around the world. Gilot's extensive contribution as a visionary, enduring and independent artist will be showcased in this exhibition, presenting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for audiences in Asia to appreciate his most significant works, from the 40s to the 10s. As a celebration of Gilot's remarkable life and work, Christie's honors the artist by opening the exhibition on November 26, the day of his centenary at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center.

Francoise Gilot – Already a rising star in the art world at the age of 21, Gilot belonged to the post-war milieu of artists who redefined the European art landscape. After his first major exhibition in Paris in 1943, Gilot signed a contract with legendary art dealer Daniel-Henri Kahnweiler, becoming one of only two female artists to ever be signed by him. Her first exhibition with Kahnweiler's famed Galerie Louise Leiris took place in 1952 in Paris, a critical moment in her life and career. Early in her career in France, Gilot was influenced by her peers such as Picasso, Braque, Chagall, Matisse and Cocteau and emerged as a member of the postwar younger generation that evolved from the modern era. Gilot flourished in her practice and spent more and more time in America during the 60s, starting a new chapter and pursuing new directions in his work and her life. Gilot's artistry further evolved during her move to the United States in the 1970s, as she began exploring multiple creative disciplines including painting, printmaking and writing, and examining the creative tensions between abstraction and figuration. In 1970, his work was exhibited at the Southampton Museum of Art in New York, the first of many museum exhibitions to follow. Gilot will receive the honor of Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur from the French Ministry of Culture in 1990, followed by the Officier de la Legion d'Honneur, awarded by the French government in 2009. Gilot's work is found in major museum collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Musée d'art moderni de la ville de Paris.