Over the course of the last few years, Roméo has been revisiting milestones in the history of art, selected for the most part from the collections of the Musée du Louvre itself. His version of Théodore Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa (1818-1819), for example, opens this exhibition.
In recreating celebrated paintings in his own style, the artist invites us to consider the stories that might have been, and above all those that remain to be written.
Roméo Mivekannin places his own person in his rereadings of great works, in the form of a forgotten black figure. In a gesture that is at once homage and appropriation, the artist challenges us with his gaze, asking, Who is painting? Who is being painted? Who is present in these works, and equally, who is missing from them?
The Beninese artist tackles historical painting as a genre and its characteristic scenes of shipwreck and chaos. He also examines the history of portraiture, particularly of women, and the representation of royalty in Europe and Africa. His work focuses on the ways in which presence and absence manifest themselves in the history of art, with particular reference to black representation.
Towards the end of the exhibition, geometric paintings, abstract reversals of figurative canvases, and ceramic sculptures provide further prompts to consider the history of the collections on show as well as their resonance down the ages to the present day.
Curator: Annabelle Ténèze, Director, Musée du Louvre-Lens
Scenography: Mathis Boucher, Architect-Scenographer, Musée du Louvre-Lens.
