Creatures

15 October - 20 December

3 Quai Voltaire
75007 Paris
France

Based upon a unique theme, offering a captivating menagerie of mythological animals and creatures, the exhibition will be imagined as a journey through ages and civilizations. We will be blending our sculptures from ancient Egypt to Roman times with the ceramics of Pablo Picasso. Each work will tell a fascinating story of the natural and supernatural worlds.

The term creature comes from the Latin “creatura”, meaning to be created. Whether born of nature or our imaginations, present in myths or in our landscapes, creatures have always fascinated and populated the world among us.

Sphinxes, fauns, satyrs, gorgons... these chimerical and mythological creatures have spanned the ages, questioning us on the relationship between animal and human, real and ethereal, normal and anomalous, as well as on the evolution of our perceptions. Through them, the exhibition invites us to rethink the place and role of these symbols in the art of yesterday and today.

Whether terrestrial or aquatic, these creatures of countless species have always amazed us. Their representations shine through in their diversity and emblematic richness, offering a unique panorama of the symbols that have shaped cultures and civilizations.

Here, a majestic mouflon from the Roman era bears witness to the rituals and beliefs of the time. In its white marble, it stands noble on its front legs. Not far away, a falcon representing Horus, dating from the Ptolemaic period, illustrates the sacred link between the divine and the natural world—the veneration of higher forces through animal forms. Further on, the snake-haired Medusa stands in all her complexity. Both victim and monster, she embodies a troubling duality. Her face, a blend of masculine, feminine and bestial features symbolizes both terror and protection, revealing the tensions between the sublime and the frightening in the ancient imagination.

All these creatures take their places in a Victorian dreamlike setting. This quasi-theatrical aesthetic recalls the fantastical ambience of Yorgos Lanthimos' latest film, while evoking a timeless historical depth. The juxtaposition of sculpted marble, fragile and precious ceramics, pastel tones punctuated by a soft vegetal note will together create a contemporary setting combining art, dreams and nature.

The exhibition takes us on a journey through time and imagination. Each of our creatures, in its singularity, will reveal a fragment of our collective history and human fascination with the extraordinary, weaving an unbroken link between past and present, reality and mythology.