Giuseppe Penone has not had a big exhibition in a French museum since his retrospective at the Centre Georges Pompidou in 2004. For his exhibition at Musée de Grenoble, he has designed a very open exhibition that will combine old works and new creations, sculptures and murals, monumental pieces and intimate works. In the manner of Bachelard, it will offer a reverie about the pieces, sensual and poetic daydreams which incidentally lead to a renewed approach to the relationship of man with nature and the deep links and independent bonds between them. Wood, marble, bronze and also plants, silk, leather, graphite will form a large number of sculptures as well as an in-situ installation. They will be accompanied by a selection of drawings, many unpublished, which will inform their genesis.

The exhibition will be sub-divided into five sections. The first will discuss touch in order to capture what we feel and see around us. The second will focus on skin, discussing the border between outside and inside which contains and protects our vital fluids. The third will focus on breathing. The blowing of the wind through the leaves, the breath that animates the body to illustrate the links between man and nature. The fourth will explore : mineral, vegetable and animal. The fifth is a celebration of the beauty nature.

Curator of the exhibition

Guy Tosatto, chief curatorand director of the Musée de Grenoble