Organized by Maison Caillebotte on behalf of the City of Yerres, and curated by Valérie Dupont-Aignan, the exhibition Nature Is Not a Backdrop offers a sensitive and painterly journey through the landscape.
The exhibition was born from the desire to create a dialogue between works by Claude Monet, on the occasion of the centenary of his death, and those of contemporary artists who are already connected to Maison Caillebotte, having previously exhibited there and developed a deep appreciation for the site. All share the same artistic ambition: to paint as closely as possible to sensation, to reveal the invisible forces at work in nature, and to give form to what escapes immediate perception.
From Claude Monet to contemporary artists, the exhibition brings together around sixty works by: Jacques Truphémus, Markus Lüpertz, Érik Desmazières, Malgorzata Paszko, Evi Keller, Charlotte de Maupeou, Ronan Barrot, and Youcef Korichi.
A Theme Rooted in the History of the Site
Presenting an exhibition devoted to landscape at Maison Caillebotte is a natural choice. In the 19th century, the estate was the residence of the Caillebotte family, and its landscaped park became Gustave Caillebotte’s open-air studio. His close friend Claude Monet also visited the site and later drew inspiration from it in Giverny when designing his famous water garden and Japanese bridge.
The estate itself is a landscape. The park, designed in the English style in 1824 after the property was acquired by Pierre-Frédéric Borrel, was conceived as a promenade punctuated by ornamental follies. In the Romantic spirit of the early 19th century, nature was idealized and carefully staged: valleys, rockeries, and sweeping vistas compose a picturesque landscape animated by the presence of the river.
Monet and Contemporary Artists: A Dialogue
Seated beside the pond in his garden at Giverny, Claude Monet discovered what would become one of the major revolutions in painting: the miracle of the Water Lilies. In his relentless pursuit of light, he gradually dissolved the boundaries of pictorial space. Painting was no longer a “window” opening onto a scene, but an immersive space into which the viewer is invited to step.
Painting no longer sought to represent the world, but to convey its vibration, materiality, and light. Through this radical gesture, Monet paved the way for modern painting and vastly expanded the realm of artistic possibilities.
Through around sixty works, the exhibition unfolds across nine galleries, each devoted to a contemporary artist responding in their own way to the questions opened by Monet.
Landscape is understood here in its broadest sense, encompassing countryside, gardens, and natural spaces, while also embracing the urban landscape.
In dialogue with Monet’s Water Lilies are the telluric depths of Evi Keller, the luminous intimacy of Jacques Truphémus, memory and form in the work of Markus Lüpertz, the suspended atmospheres of Malgorzata Paszko, the heightened perception of Youcef Korichi, the engraved landscapes of Érik Desmazières, the power of color in Charlotte de Maupeou’s paintings, and the dense pictorial matter of Ronan Barrot.
Though they share no obvious stylistic lineage, these works nonetheless resonate with one another. All reflect the same artistic freedom in the face of nature and its representation that lies at the heart of Monet’s work.
