Exhibition, 11 Jan 2023 - 9 Apr 2023

Nouveau Réalisme

Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation, Athens, Greece

Nouveau Réalisme, or New Realism, is one of the major art movements of the 20th century and it emerged at a turning point in History, when art ceased being called modern and became contemporary. Some of its 13 members became well-known artists who have left their mark on art.
Eight of these artists were present on October 27, 1960, the day that the joint declaration written by art critic Pierre Restany that briefly defined New Realism as the “new perceptive approaches to reality” was signed. In alphabetical order, those were Arman, François Dufrêne, Raymond Hains, Yves Klein, Martial Raysse, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely and Jacques Villeglé.
Later, and following an invitation by Restany, the group was joined by César, Mimmo Rotella, Niki de Saint Phalle, Gérard Deschamps and then Christo. Most of these artists’ joint projects occurred between 1960 and 1963 and continued at a slower pace until 1970, the year that the group pompously celebrated its ten-year anniversary in Milan.
The present exhibition has not been designed to provide a strict historical approach. Instead, we chose to highlight the youthful, bustling, playful spirit of these artists, who left their mark on their era.
This tribute would never have been possible without the ready support of both private individual owners and institutions who lent us works and responded to our invitation with enthusiasm and generosity, among them the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
The exhibition further includes a rich archive that travels visitors to the many and highly interesting ephemeral creations of these artists, accompanied by different interviews.