Le Théorème de Narcisse
September 2021 - January 2022, Petit Palais, Paris
Discover the exhibitionJean-Michel Othoniel is taking over the entire Petit Palais and its garden.
This is the artist's largest solo exhibition in Paris since his "My Way" retrospective at the Centre Pompidou in 2011.
For the occasion, in more than 70 new works, Othoniel invents The Theorem of Narcissus: a man-flower, who by reflecting himself, reflects the world around him. According to Gaston Bachelard, "narcissism is not always neurotic, it also plays a positive role in aesthetic work. Sublimation is not always the negation of a desire. It can be a sublimation for an ideal.
The artist weaves a web of unreality, enchantment, illusion, liberation of the imagination. Rivers of blue bricks, Lotus and golden necklaces, Crown of the Night, Wild Knots and Precious Stonewalls, these works are set in the building, hanging from the trees or placed on the water; they dialogue with the architecture of the Petit Palais and the gold of its garden. The exhibition is placed under the sign of re-enchantment and the theory of reflections that the artist has been developing for nearly ten years with the complicity of the Mexican mathematician Aubin Arroyo. This invitation to dream allows us, during the exhibition, to resist the disillusionment of the world. This exhibition is a message of openness offered free of charge to the public.