French artist-slash-icon Georges Mathieu, who passed away in 2012, is the subject of a new retrospective at the Monnaie de Paris, not far from our hotels, over 50 years after the last large exhibition of his work in the same venue!

As one of the most important French artists of the second half of the 20th century, Georges Mathieu helped create an international movement of abstract impressionism through his movement-packed paintings, as well as creating poster visuals for large companies (notably Air France) and even coins (including the 10 franc coin that everyone in the country has seen at some point).

With a thematic / chronological presentation, the exhibition starts in the 1940s with abstract paintings showing the artist’s “psychic non-figuration”, often with tubes of coloured paint directly squashed onto the canvas.

Next comes an explanation of the artist’s medieval influences, with his large-format paintings of the 1950s, featuring numerous historical references.

Then, visitors can see his work for Air France in the 1960s, his fascination for geometric forms suring the 1970s, his white / minimalist period, and his many apparitions on national TV (he even designed the logo for the channel Antenne 2).

The final sections of the exhibition show how a trip to Japan influence the artists at various moments between the 1950s and 1970s, and you’ll be able to admire his painring La Libération d’Orléans par Jeanne d’Arc and other examples of late figurative and abstract paintings from the 1980s.

The exhibition is organised with the help of the Pompidou Centre – over forty of the pieces on show are from their collections.

Concurrently with the exhibition, the Monnaie de Paris has a related exhibition on offer called Graffiti x Georges Mathieu, aimed at showing the artist’s influence on today’s street artists.

Works from six of them are on display: JonOne, Lek & Sowat, Nassyo, Camille Gendron and Matt Zerfa.

Archival films about Mathieu’s work and the art of graffiti can also be watched here.

A catalogue of the exhibition (128 pages, 30€) is also available here at your local amazon.

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The exhibition Georges Mathieu – Geste, Vitesse, Mouvement is at the Monnaie de Paris (here) until 7th September 2025

Open every day except Mondays from 11am-6pm (9pm Wednesdays)

Admission: 12€ / 10€ if you can show a Mathieu-designed 10 franc piece at the entrance!

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