The Musée de l’Orangerie is dedicating an exhibition to the American artist Robert Ryman (1930-2019) entitled “Le regard en acte” (The act of looking).
The event marks the first comprehensive presentation of Ryman’s work in a French public institution since 1981, and offers a unique opportunity to reinterpret and appreciate the work of this exceptional painter.
Although Robert Ryman is often associated with the American Minimal Art movement, this exhibition is an invitation to consider him as an artist with his own unique approach. Ryman’s art intensely questions the fundamentals of painting by focusing on elemental concepts such as surface, boundaries, space, light, and duration. Through this focus, which can be similarly observed in Claude Monet’s work, Ryman explores the essence of his medium and opens up new ways of understanding painting in its purest form.
The Musée de l’Orangerie, renowned for its collection of Claude Monet’s Nymphéas, provides the ideal setting for such an exhibition. “Le regard en acte” is not only an exhibition that pays tribute to Robert Ryman’s importance in the history of art, but also a deep reflection on painting itself, its possibilities and its essential components.
