pae white | énormément bizarre

In 1987, the Centre Pompidou devoted a major exhibition to the Austrian architect, and in 2016, the Musée National d’Art Moderne acquired a significant body of his work, including installations, models, drawings and collections.

Over a period of almost fifty years, Jean Chatelus (1939-2021) amassed an extravagant collection of contemporary art, including works by Cindy Sherman, Christian Boltanski, Michel Journiac, Nam June Paik, Wim Delvoye and Mike Kelley. He hoarded his treasures in the chaos of his Parisian apartment, living among them rather like a man in a cabinet of curiosities. To mark the Antoine de Galbert Foundation’s donation of the Jean Chatelus collection to the Centre Pompidou, the Musée National d’Art Moderne is displaying almost four hundred pieces, including sculptures, installations, paintings, photographs, drawings, votive offerings and vernacular objects.

Énormément bizarre (Enormously Bizarre) is an exhibition which offers a glimpse into the obsessions of a visionary collector. As a tribute to this extraordinary vision and to showcase the uniqueness of this 20th-century cabinet of curiosities, the exhibition aims to display virtually the entire donation using a ‘free association’ approach rather than following a timeline. The significance of the donation lies in its size, historic value and sheer strangeness. The title of the exhibition has been taken from an account by artist Wim Delvoye of his visit to the collector’s home.
Delvoye’s own work features heavily in the collection.