In principle, an attempt at exhaustion
March 21, 2025 – March 2027**
Celebrating its 20th anniversary, MAC VAL highlights the strength and uniqueness of its collection, built over more than forty years and dedicated to contemporary art in France since the 1950s. This milestone offers an opportunity both to acknowledge the depth of this remarkable heritage and to reaffirm the museum’s forward-looking vision.
The new exhibition results from an unprecedented collective curatorial process involving all museum teams. Through shared discussions, debates, and selections, the display brings together emblematic works from the collection, inviting visitors to rediscover artworks that have shaped twenty years of life at MAC VAL.
Rooted in a departmental policy supporting artists since 1982, the MAC VAL collection is regularly recontextualized through thematic rehangs. In spring 2025, the museum presents a journey dedicated to the hierarchy of artistic genres, first theorized in 1667 by art historian André Félibien.
With a playful and critical approach, “The Ideal Genre. In principle, an attempt at exhaustion” explores the five traditional genres—history painting, portraiture, genre scenes, landscape, and still life—through contemporary works from the collection.
Curator Nicolas Surlapierre
Co-curators Yuan-Chih Cheng, Anaïs Linares, Margaut Segui, and all the teams at MAC VAL