the essential
Tomorrow, the Ruthenian museum launches its winter exhibition dedicated to the work of the Breton artist known for her work around blue.
Blue invites itself into the temple of the beyond. After hosting an exhibition dedicated to the work of Yves Klein in the summer of 2019, now places the work of Geneviève Asse. Clearly, the color of the ocean goes wonderfully with the black of Pierre Soulages. Since tomorrow, the Soulages museum unveils to the public its new exhibition called “The blue takes everything that happens”.
From realism to abstract
On the program, nearly 70 works by Geneviève Asse presented in the space dedicated to temporary exhibitions of the most famous Ruthenian museum, offered to the public until May 18. “It’s a very nice retrospective”rejoices Malika Noui, secretary of the Geneviève Asse endowment fund – which lends a good number of paintings for this event – and co-curator of this exhibition alongside the director of the Soulages museum Benoît Decron. “We wanted to present something comprehensive retracing the entire career of this great post-war French artist”he summarizes. “It’s really impressive”slips the president of the Public Establishment for Cultural Cooperation (EPCC) in charge of the Soulages museum, Alfred Pacquement, then in the middle of discovering this exhibition.
Because if the Breton, who died in Paris in 2021 at the age of 98, is best known since the 1970s for her large blue canvases, her style has evolved greatly over the years. “His first works were very inspired by what was done in the 17th century, with still lifes”presents Benoît Decron. Still with a common thread, shades of blue going all the way to gray, inspired by the light of the sea and its native region. This is how we gradually arrive at the famous “Asse blue” and an abstract style that can be compared to monochromes. “The idea of this exhibition is to present these two facets of art and to show that we can very easily move from one to the other”insists the one who is also the curator of the museum.
-40,000 visitors expected
Thus, the woman whose works have regularly been showcased at the Pompidou Center – where Alfred Pacquement officiated for 13 years – is similar in many aspects to Pierre Soulages. “They had a lot of admiration for each other and shared the search for light, explains Benoît Decron. They are artists who think that colors infuse into light.”
A director delighted to present this exhibition which he hopes will be a great success in Rodez. “For such an event we hope to attract between 35,000 and 40,000 visitors.” Even more, the one who will retire on February 18, 2026 is delighted to conclude his career at the Soulages museum with the work “of two great female artists. This is pleasing in a world that is still very sexist”he judges. Since then, an exhibition dedicated to the filmmaker, photographer and visual artist Agnès Varda will be presented, from June 28, 2025 until January 4, 2026.
