This exhibition at Fonds Hélène & Édouard Leclerc charts Moore’s extraordinary life and career through a selection of some of his most famous and influential works.

From the beginning of his career the human figure was always at the centre of Moore’s art: its construction, variety of balance, size and rhythm offer virtually endless formal opportunities, which Moore developed throughout his career focusing on three key themes: the reclining figure, the mother and child and the internal/external form.

The human figure is both the most exacting subject one can set oneself, and the subject one knows best.

Featuring more than 90 sculptures (plasters, bronzes, wood, stones) and 60 drawings, drawn in the most part from the Henry Moore Foundation's collection, this new exhibition traces the development of these key themes throughout Moore’s career. The selection illustrates how Moore’s style evolved in response to a wide range of stimuli and ideas before the Second World War, and then settled into an original language, which came to be recognised by audiences around the world, based on the exploration of the human figure through a combination of organic and abstracted forms.

Le Fonds Hélène & Édouard Leclerc pour la Culture was established in 2011 in Landerneau, France by the Leclerc family. The Foundation (FHEL) aims to support and lead public interest in arts and culture through its programme of exhibitions and the creation of contemporary art. Its base, near Brest in Brittany is close to the site of Édouard Leclerc's first chocolate and grocery store, which he opened in 1949. The family business is now one of the most familiar supermarket chains in France.

Henry Moore is the latest in a series of major exhibitions of work by world renowned artists at FHEL; previous artists featured include Picasso (2017), Chagall (2016) and Giacometti (2015).