Photo courtesy of Sortiraparis.
Georges Mathieu believed painting should move as fast as the modern world.
“Georges Mathieu,” now on view at Monnaie de Paris, is the first major retrospective in France in over fifty years dedicated to the artist’s visionary practice. A central figure in postwar abstraction, Mathieu (1921–2012) helped define lyrical abstraction and became a pop-cultural force—his signature style appearing not just on canvas, but on posters, television credits, and even the iconic 10-franc coin.
Organized in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou, the exhibition spans from the 1940s to the 1990s, placing his expressive paintings in dialogue with his prolific design work. It reveals an artist who saw no boundary between fine art and public life—only a canvas waiting to be claimed.