At the Centre Pompidou-Metz, 100 Works to Understand the Double Face of François Morellet

The Centre Pompidou-Metz presents a centenary retrospective of French artist François Morellet (1926–2016), featuring 100 works that explore the dual nature of his practice. Curator Michel Gauthier has divided the exhibition into two mirrored halves—one dedicated to reason and geometric rigor ("the Mondrian side"), the other to disorder and irrationality ("the Picabia side")—reflecting Morellet's own description of himself as the "monstrous son of Mondrian and Picabia." The show traces his evolution from early figurative works and self-taught experiments to his embrace of concrete art, Islamic decorative systems, and systematic absurdity.

This retrospective matters because it reasserts Morellet's significance as a pioneering figure in post-war abstract and conceptual art, whose playful yet rigorous approach anticipated later movements. By highlighting his dual impulses—between strict geometry and surrealist whimsy—the exhibition challenges the narrow categorization of Morellet as merely a concrete artist. It also underscores the enduring relevance of his work in questioning the boundaries between order and chaos, rationality and humor, at a time when such dichotomies remain central to contemporary art discourse.