Léger and the New Realism

Léger and the New Realism
The MAMAC collections in Biot

An exhibition organised at the Musée national Fernand Léger, Biot by the Musée national du XXe siècle des Alpes- Maritimes and the Réunion des musées nationaux - Grand Palais in partnership with the Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain (MAMAC), Nice.

From June to autumn 2024, the Fernand Léger national museum in Biot and the Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain (MAMAC) in Nice will be celebrating artistic creativity with an exhibition bringing together the joyful and colourful work of the painter Fernand Léger (1881-1955) and key works from the MAMAC.

Thanks to an unprecedented partnership between two major collections on the Côte d'Azur, works by Niki de Saint-Phalle, Arman, Yves Klein, Raymond Hains, Martial Raysse and César come face to face, in a spirit of total freedom and dialogue between the arts, with the plastic innovations of Fernand Léger, one of the pioneers of the 20th-century avant-garde. Alongside the main representatives of New Realism, a group founded in 1960 around the art critic Pierre Restany, works by the generation of artists who emerged on the other side of the Atlantic in the 1960s, such as Roy Lichtenstein and later Keith Haring, illustrate the artistic exchanges that existed very early on between the European and American scenes.

Beyond certain thematic or formal affinities, there is a historical link between the work of Fernand Léger and the Nouveau Réalisme. A fervent admirer of his work, Pierre Restany is said to have named the group in homage to Léger, who used the term in the 1920s to define his artistic approach. What Fernand Léger and the artists of this generation have in common is that they renewed artistic creation by reappropriating the real world and often taking a critical and political look at the society of their time.

Following on from the exhibitions organised by the Musée national Fernand Léger highlighting the artist's collaborations and his posterity, the exhibition Léger et les New Realisms highlights Léger's visionary modernity, while also recalling the possible sources of inspiration for these revolutionary artists of the 1960s. Featuring around 110 works, including a selection of 60 from the MAMAC, the exhibition takes a playful, creative approach to a number of themes, including the misuse of objects, the representation of the body and leisure activities, and the place of art in the public space. Through powerful artistic gestures, the artists elevate elements - materials, symbols, tools - captured in their most banal reality to the status of works of art. They bring art and life together, revealing to the viewer the poetic beauty of our everyday lives. 

General Curator: Anne Dopffer, Head of the National Museums of the XXth century in the Alpes-Maritimes

Exhibition curators :
Julie Guttierez, chief curator at the Musée national Fernand Léger, Biot
Rébecca François, heritage conservation officer, Musée d'art moderne et d'art contemporain de Nice (MAMAC)

Director of the MAMAC: Hélène Guenin
Press relations: Rmn - Grand Palais

Fernand Léger, Cyclist on a blue background, 1950, 42 x 64 cm, original lithograph, plate from the illustrated album Cirque, Paris, Tériade. Musée national Fernand Léger, Biot © Rmn-Grand Palais / Gérard Blot © Adagp, Paris, 2024. 
Niki de Saint Phalle, Healthy Nana, 1999, lithograph, 61 x 49 cm; Musée d'art moderne et d'art contemporain, Nice, © Ville de Nice Muriel Anssens © Niki Charitable Art Foundation / Adagp, Paris, 2024.