The Centre Pompidou pays homage to Baldaccini César, better known simply as César, through a wide retrospective called “La Rétrospective”, bringing together a hundred works from all over the world. Twenty years after his death, the Parisian museum offers to see unknown periods, such as the first “Venus”, the Plexiglas sculptures “Enrubannées”, or 1998’s “Suite Milanaise”.
This artist and sculptor born in Marseilles in 1921 creates works that resonate with something in the mid-1950’s when he met artists from Saint-Germain-des-Près and Montparnasse. He is noticed because of the transformation of the materials he uses in his quite classical works. Welted-metal sculptures and other Venus and bestiary create a violent critic against the industrialized society base on overconsumption. His process works everywhere in the world but in France, where his popularity struggles to improve.
Until his death in 1998, at 77 years old, the artistdoes not stop shocking and intriguing with violent works such as “Compressions”, these sculptures made of crushed metal and junk materials (cars, cans, Jaguar cars, forks…) or “Expansions” which are timeless sculptures representing various liquids solidified after leaking from a container.
If these "works" are César's most famous ones, the Centre Pompidou also presents the Human Imprints bringing a new dimension to César’s works translating a will to track the female body and the wrought irons that inspired by Giacometti's and Rodin's works.
We love Fanny Fanny, the oyster wearing rollerblades that we've already seen in Paris Tuileries Gardens.
We love this exhibition allowing us to discover César's prolific universes, universes he worked for years and years and finding many works César offered Paris and its region, a Centaur you can see in the 6th arrondissement, a giant thumb in La Défense, his grave in Montparnasse cemetery, the Venus in Villetaneuse and the Championnes, a tower of crushed cars in Jouy-en-Josas!
Practical information:
César, the great retrospective at the Centre Pompidou
Venue: Centre Pompidou
From December 12, 2017 to March 23, 2018
Opening hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., closed on Tuesdays
Rates: €14 (full), €11 (reduced)
Please note that it's been over 4 years since our last visit, so the place and experience may have changed.
Dates and Opening Time
From December 13, 2017 to March 23, 2018
Location
Center Pompidou
centre pompidou
75004 Paris 4
Access
Metro line 11 "Rambuteau" station
Prices
tarif réduit: €11
tarif plein: €14
Recommended age
For all
