Medieval and pop, could these two adjectives, a priori unlikely to coexist, qualify the work of Bernard Buffet? In the shadow of the abbey which houses the recumbent figure of Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Fontevraud Museum of Modern Art offers us an innovative reading of the artist's creations. More than seventy works reveal to us a little-known Buffet, both heir to medieval traditions and pioneer of pop art. In the artistic effervescence of the post-war period, the young Bernard Buffet, just nineteen years old, emerged as a leading figure, captivating with his austere and spare style, his angular graphics, his shadowless compositions and his spaces dishes. A precocious artist, quickly acclaimed as the greatest French painter. Behind his ultra-popularity, however, hides a solitary man, perpetually questioning the meaning of life. His Crucifixions, his Joan of Arc and his paintings inspired by Dante evolve hieratic figures outlined by a sharp line in a Gothic iconography, declined in monumental formats reminiscent of the great religious frescoes of the Middle Ages. Facing these characters, everyday objects of apparent banality that the artist elevates to the rank of icons. Bernard Buffet gives us a poignant testimony to the paradox of life, mixing with rare intensity the tragic and the sublime, in a macabre medieval dance depicted with very contemporary irony.

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FONTEVRAUD MODERN ART MUSEUM
Until September 29, 2024
Place des Plantagenets,
49590 Fontevraud-l’Abbaye