Maillol Welcomes Lüpertz, or is it the other way around? The Musée Maillol presents, from November 17 to March 23, a unique dialogue within its permanent collection between these two artists. The German master of neo-expressionism, known for challenging classical perfection, chooses his lineage: Maillol, who, under an appearance of effortless harmony, also concealed many daring artistic innovations.

The idea of bringing Markus Lüpertz’s work into resonance with the Musée Maillol’s collection offers a sharp insight into the German artist’s production and became an essential pursuit. Lüpertz is a key representative of neo-expressionism and a lover of form. Major retrospectives at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris in 2015 and the Haus der Kunst in Munich in 2019 did not aim to place him within the narrative of art history but rather to position him explicitly in contemporary art. Yet, Lüpertz is more rooted in art history than most artists of his generation. For this reason, in 2022, the Museums of Orléans opted to present him in the manner of an artist from the past.

In a similar, more intimate approach, Aristide Maillol receives Markus Lüpertz within his walls. The German artist, a “painter-sculptor”, as he describes himself, chooses to establish his lineage with Maillol—alongside him, and after him. Maillol, the luminous figure whose works exude fullness and embody the brilliance of a living beauty, the presence of a harmonious, silent body, will be juxtaposed with around thirty large-format canvases, both small and large.

Here is the proposal of a contemporary artist who never wanted to give up painting and sculpting and continually questions what we do with the past and what we can make of it because, for him, tradition and creation are not opposites. His anti-nostalgic, modern response fits joyfully into art history.