Portraits, collections du Centre Pompidou

Alain Seban, president of the Centre Pompidou, recently announced his wish to lead a “brand policy” to contribute to the institution’s financing. The exhibition at the Fondation Pierre Gianadda, until 24 June 2012, of a selection of portraits illustrates this intention. The growing number of temporary exhibits of museum collections (the Hermitage at the Prado, the Louvre in Atlanta, etc.) is quite intriguing… This policy only seems legitimate when it makes the public discover unknown museums, such as the one of Brukenthal, in Rumania, whose collection was exhibited at the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris in 2009). Nevertheless, we have to admit that a theme such as the one of portraits allows us to look differently on a very rich fund and to rediscover pieces often left in the reserves. Consequently, from the bust of Picasso by Gargallo to the nude prostitute by Marquet, from the Chaliapine full of haughtiness by Boris Grigorieff at the Guynemer transformed into an icon by Roger de La Fresnaye, the walk has a few surprises.

• Portraits, collections du Centre Pompidou, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, 2012, 188 p.