Opposite. Fernand Leger and his friends

April 14 - 17 September 2018

Jean Arp, Francis Bacon, Georges Braque, Alexander Calder, Mary Callery Marc Chagall, Giorgio de Chirico, César Domela, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Jean Fautrier, Jean Hélion, Vassily Kandinsky, André Lhote, Roy Lichtenstein, Jacques Lipchitz, Alberto Magnelli, Henri Matisse, Gino Severini and Victor Servranckx

Opening, Saturday, April 14, 2018 at 11: 00

Exhibition organized by the national museums of the XX^e century of Alpes-Maritimes.

In 2018, the Fernand Léger national museum continues his exploration of artistic and friendly relations between the light Fernand (1881-1955) painter and artists of his time.

By facing the Museum's collections and a selection of works by painters and sculptors major of the European avant-garde, the exhibition reveals the mutual influences between the work of Fernand Léger and the other artists of this period, in the context of artistic ferment at the turn of the XX^e century.

A naturally sociable and curious temperament, Fernand Léger was listening to the many innovations, artistic and technical of his century. It always surrounded by artists, he has spoken more or less close and lasting, exchanges that have nurtured its reflection and influenced his approach to painter.

At the intersection of the main artistic movements of the beginning of the XX^e century - Cubism, Futurism, purism, surrealism-, the work of Fernand Léger, who oscillates between abstraction and figuration, accompanied its great aesthetic upheavals: She has made an original contribution to the construction of modernity, while demonstrating the independence of spirit and creation of the painter.

For this new edition, the meaning of the word "friend" widens by also addressing the issue of the posterity of Fernand Leger: his work has indeed become a fertile inspiration for key artists of the second half of the XX^e century, such as Roy Lichtenstein and Francis Bacon who, over generations, have created a strong, intellectual and aesthetic, bond with their illustrious predecessor.

Exposure has outstanding loans from the national Museum of Modern Art of Paris, the Villa Arson in Nice, and private collections that have agreed to contribute to the exhibition, including the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul de Vence. the Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation in Monaco and the Foundation Louis Vuitton in Paris. We renew our warm thanks forthe trust they place in us.

General office : Anne Dopffer, general curator of the heritage, Director of the national museums of the XX^e century of Alpes-Maritimes.

Office : Julie Guttierez, curator of the heritage at the national museum, Fernand Léger and Nelly Maillard, charged at the Fernand Léger national museum collections.

Alexander Calder, the lifter, 1944, Foundation Maeght, Saint-Paul of Vence. Photo Claude Germain/Archives Foundation Maeght © Calder Foundation New York / ADAGP, Paris, 2018

Fernand Léger, La Grande parade on red background, 1953, Museum national Fernand Leger, Biot. Photo RMN-Grand Palace / Gérard Blot © ADAGP, Paris, 2018