Agenda

The exhibition brings Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) and Hans Arp (1886–1966) into dialogue, the late 19th-century sculpture’s great reformer and the major protagonist of 20th-century abstract sculpture.

Both artists displayed exceptional artistic inventiveness and enthusiasm for experimentation. Their works left a deep imprint on their times and retain their full relevance to this day.

The sculptural milestones created by Auguste Rodin and Hans Arp provide remarkable illustrations of fundamental aspects in the development of modern sculpture.

The exhibition of around 110 works takes as its starting point Arp’s 1938  Automatische Skulptur (Automatic Sculpture, Homage to Rodin) and his 1952 poem Rodin – tributes to the great precursor.

The exhibition shows iconic works such as Rodin’s Thinker and Kiss as well as Arp’s Ptolemy and Torso, and lesser-known works, including reliefs by Arp and drawings and collages by both artists.

Impasse Ronsin, a street in the heart of the Montparnasse district of Paris, was a unique artists’ settlement and known for over 100 years as a place of art, contemplation, conversation, celebration, innovation, creation and destruction.

The Impasse Ronsin existed as an artists’ settlement in the Montparnasse district of Paris from 1886 to 1971, and was characterised by a diversity of artistic identities that were by no means merely avant-garde, but rather characterised an extremely broad spectrum, with artists ranging from Constantin Brâncusi, Max Ernst, Marta Minujín, Eva Aeppli, Niki de Saint Phalle and Larry Rivers to André Almo Del Debbio and Alfred Laliberté.

The exhibition presents over 50 artists with more than 200 works, all created in this magical place.

Agostino Carracci (1557-1602) and Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) were the leading engravers of the late 16th century , one in Italy and the other in the Netherlands.

The two artists have never before been confronted in an exhibition. For, in addition to their success as engravers, there are further parallels: both were interested in literature and art theory, and each of them founded an academy.

Independently of one another, they both discovered the illusionistic potential of lines that swell and taper and made an important contribution to the development of the engraving technique, paving the way for the print of the baroque era.

The exhibition draws the parallels in their lives and seeks the points of interaction between them. The entire thematic spectrum of their work is presented, from devotional images to portraiture to erotic images.