Matisse Mesnil in Marseille: Mucem and Double V

Matisse Mesnil is currently exhibiting at the Mucem for the exhibition 'Passions partagées'. This temporary exhibition creates an unprecedented dialogue between the Lambert collection and the Mucem collections. It traces the journey of Yvon Lambert, highlighting his connection with Provençal and Mediterranean cultures, and explores various themes where the two collections intersect: the popular and the everyday, man and nature, poetry and literature, intimacy and existence. Curated by Marie-Charlotte Calafat, Chief Curator of Heritage, Head of the Collections and Documentary Resources Department, and Head of the History Department at the Mucem, and Stéphane Ibars, Exhibition Curator, teacher, and Artistic Director of the Lambert Collection, the Mucem benefits from exceptional loans from Yvon and Ève Lambert, as well as the National Center for Visual Arts (CNAP). Eighty works were selected from the 600 works donated by art dealer and collector Yvon Lambert to the state in 2012. These pieces cover a wide range of artistic mediums, such as painting, sculpture, installation, video, and photography. They are displayed alongside 150 works from the Mucem's collection, a reference in the field of popular arts. These everyday objects subtly blend with contemporary creations. Matisse Mesnil's work 'Grappe de raisin' is exhibited alongside creations by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andres Serrano, Christian Marclay, Sol Lewitt, Daniel Buren, Mircea Cantor, Marcel Broodthaers, Cy Twombly, Kiki Smith, Nan Goldin, Christian Boltanski, Louise Lawler, and many others. Just a few steps from the famous museum, Matisse Mesnil presents new works at the Double V gallery for the group exhibition 'Ghost Town' alongside Alice Guittard and Taisiia Cherkasova, until June 6, 2024. Matisse Mesnil occupies the shop window on rue Saint-Jacques with a dark and geometric installation. At the center of the gallery, a hexagonal paving features surrealist sculptures suggesting a strange chess game (Playtime, 2024). On the gallery walls, visitors can see the Mazzolin series (2024), recently exhibited at the Lambert Collection in the exhibition 'Revenir du présent, Regards croisés sur la scène actuelle.' "Ghost Town" brings together the work of these three artists for the first time around the mysterious presence of artistic ghosts and their enigmatic legacies.