The Pop Forever, Tom Wesselmann &… exhibition at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris

Since October 24, 2024, the Louis Vuitton Foundation has been presenting the exhibition “Pop Forever, Tom Wesselmann &…”. Tracing the history of the provocative artistic movement of the 1950s, notably through the work of the American Wesselmann, the Foundation brings a breath of fresh air to the Parisian cultural landscape.

The Pop Art (“Popular Art”) is an artistic movement initiated in England in the 1950s, in reaction to abstract expressionism, of which the artists Mark Rothko and Cy Twombly are well known. The movement then spread to the United States, in the era of the consumer society and “theAmerican Way of Life”, a concept popularized from the speeches of President Kennedy.

Tom Wesselmann, leading figure of the movement, occupies most of the exhibition. We find in particular the works of his series “Still Life”, collages where advertisements for Coca Cola and life-size oranges rub shoulders in perfect American interiors from the 70s. The work of art almost becomes a consumer product, a name barely nuanced by a few seemingly fruity unnatural.

It is only in the last part of the exhibition that we are surprised by unexpected works in what until then appeared to be nothing more than a caricature from an American advertising magazine. The walls of the Foundation are invaded by female nudes!

These last exhibition rooms inevitably resonate with one of the first works presented: the graphic portrait of Marilyn Monroe produced by Andy Warhol, after the death of the actress. Drowned in saturated colors, the deceased actress loses her status as a woman to become an image. Art has become a consumer product.

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