NEWS
"Calder. Rêver en équilibre" exhibition | Fondation Louis Vuitton
The Fondation Louis Vuitton is hosting an exhibition dedicated to Alexander Calder (1898–1976) until mid-August 2026, with the support of the Calder Foundation (New York) and the Whitney Museum (New York). This internationally renowned sculptor and leading figure in the contemporary art world is best known for his mobiles and outdoor arch structures. This exhibition sets out to achieve an ambitious and delicate retrospective – a feat that is often difficult to pull off but has been perfectly realised here.
Visitors will indeed be captivated by the wide range of works on display (almost 300 catalogue entries). The exhibition follows a chronological line, from the early days of Calder’s artistic practice to his final period, highlighting the friendships, influences and major projects that marked an almost idyllic career. The exhibition has been organised to mark the anniversary of Calder’s arrival in Paris in 1926 and highlights his European affinities. It begins with a presentation of one of the artist’s most iconic works, the ‘Black Widow’ mobile (1948).
This young mechanical engineer began his first experiments in New York whilst living with a family of artists, before moving to Paris. A series of drawings entitled Animals (1926) shows that Calder already possessed a synthetic and powerful vision of form. The stroke, the line, the wire – everything is almost there from the very beginning. Calder, who also illustrated scenes from the Barnum circus show for magazines, presented a poetic version of his own miniature circus (1926–1931), a puppet show enhanced by mechanical systems using wire (the engineer in him is very much evident here), which was filmed and set to music, becoming the first performance in the Art History to which Calder invited friends to take part. Each performance was then unique in its choice of acts, its evolving script, and the personalities of the ‘guests’ who brought the puppets to life.
During this period in the 1930s, Calder stripped back certain figurines, retaining only the wire – a work of remarkable purity, almost like a drawing that comes to life depending on the lighting (yet another influence from the world of the circus and stage effects). But the artist, who was also a sculptor, explored other ways, such as direct carving in wood (1928–1929), with animals reminiscent of Ossip Zadkine’s style. Another major figure is discreetly present throughout the exhibition: one cannot overlook the role played by the experiments of his contemporary, Pablo Picasso, during the 1930s and 1940s, an explorer of all forms of expression, from figuration to abstraction. Calder embraced these lines of inquiry with insatiable curiosity: whilst he produced wire figures in pursuit of his artistic goals, he was also strongly influenced by his friendship with Piet Mondrian, which led to studies of colour and abstraction. Similarly, the works of Fernand Léger and Joan Miró are also evident. The elements of the early mobiles as we know them are therefore present: wire; colour conveyed through form; and movement created by the suspended, theatrical effect. ‘Mobiles’, the term used to describe Calder’s suspended sculptures, first appeared with Marcel Duchamp during a solo exhibition in 1932. The name refers both to the chosen technical effect and to the sensory experience evoked by this vibrant work. It is probably this universal aspect of his work that has played a major part in its success.
Success thus came his way and would remain with Calder from then on until the end. The creation of a fountain known as the ‘Mercury Fountain’ in 1937 for the Spanish Pavilion at the Paris World’s Fair propelled Calder’s work onto the global art scene; the artist donated the work to the newly established Miró Foundation. Public commissions would pour in until his death in 1976.
The artist could have stopped there, but he is keen to explore new forms of expression, whether within the ‘mobiles’ genre or through other media such as painting and jewellery (of which the Foundation is showing a superb selection here). It is undoubtedly in this second part of the exhibition that the quality of the selection is most striking: a vast room housing some fifteen mobiles of all kinds, in every size and colour. It epitomises the richness of Calder’s exploration, from floor to ceiling, from the interior to the exterior, where his arch-mobiles extend into the landscape. This creative exploration coincided with his move to a country estate in Connecticut, open to the natural world.
The exhibition thus presents the entirety of a body of work that is at once complex and simple, pure and elaborate, by an artist whose career could almost be described as « long fleuve tranquille ». Indeed, Calder’s private and artistic life appears to have flourished, in contrast to that of many of his peers throughout the turbulent 20th century. Calder also benefited relatively early on from the US government’s soft power initiatives supporting its contemporary artists, with major exhibitions and museum acquisitions taking place whilst they were still alive.
Catalogue : PAGE Suzanne, BUCHHART Dieter, HOFBAUER Anna Karina (dir.), Calder. Rêver en équilibre, catalogue de l’exposition (Paris, Fondation LVMH, 15 avril au 16 aout 2026), Paris, Hazan, 2026.
Dr. Charline Bessiere
Visitors will indeed be captivated by the wide range of works on display (almost 300 catalogue entries). The exhibition follows a chronological line, from the early days of Calder’s artistic practice to his final period, highlighting the friendships, influences and major projects that marked an almost idyllic career. The exhibition has been organised to mark the anniversary of Calder’s arrival in Paris in 1926 and highlights his European affinities. It begins with a presentation of one of the artist’s most iconic works, the ‘Black Widow’ mobile (1948).
This young mechanical engineer began his first experiments in New York whilst living with a family of artists, before moving to Paris. A series of drawings entitled Animals (1926) shows that Calder already possessed a synthetic and powerful vision of form. The stroke, the line, the wire – everything is almost there from the very beginning. Calder, who also illustrated scenes from the Barnum circus show for magazines, presented a poetic version of his own miniature circus (1926–1931), a puppet show enhanced by mechanical systems using wire (the engineer in him is very much evident here), which was filmed and set to music, becoming the first performance in the Art History to which Calder invited friends to take part. Each performance was then unique in its choice of acts, its evolving script, and the personalities of the ‘guests’ who brought the puppets to life.
During this period in the 1930s, Calder stripped back certain figurines, retaining only the wire – a work of remarkable purity, almost like a drawing that comes to life depending on the lighting (yet another influence from the world of the circus and stage effects). But the artist, who was also a sculptor, explored other ways, such as direct carving in wood (1928–1929), with animals reminiscent of Ossip Zadkine’s style. Another major figure is discreetly present throughout the exhibition: one cannot overlook the role played by the experiments of his contemporary, Pablo Picasso, during the 1930s and 1940s, an explorer of all forms of expression, from figuration to abstraction. Calder embraced these lines of inquiry with insatiable curiosity: whilst he produced wire figures in pursuit of his artistic goals, he was also strongly influenced by his friendship with Piet Mondrian, which led to studies of colour and abstraction. Similarly, the works of Fernand Léger and Joan Miró are also evident. The elements of the early mobiles as we know them are therefore present: wire; colour conveyed through form; and movement created by the suspended, theatrical effect. ‘Mobiles’, the term used to describe Calder’s suspended sculptures, first appeared with Marcel Duchamp during a solo exhibition in 1932. The name refers both to the chosen technical effect and to the sensory experience evoked by this vibrant work. It is probably this universal aspect of his work that has played a major part in its success.
Success thus came his way and would remain with Calder from then on until the end. The creation of a fountain known as the ‘Mercury Fountain’ in 1937 for the Spanish Pavilion at the Paris World’s Fair propelled Calder’s work onto the global art scene; the artist donated the work to the newly established Miró Foundation. Public commissions would pour in until his death in 1976.
The artist could have stopped there, but he is keen to explore new forms of expression, whether within the ‘mobiles’ genre or through other media such as painting and jewellery (of which the Foundation is showing a superb selection here). It is undoubtedly in this second part of the exhibition that the quality of the selection is most striking: a vast room housing some fifteen mobiles of all kinds, in every size and colour. It epitomises the richness of Calder’s exploration, from floor to ceiling, from the interior to the exterior, where his arch-mobiles extend into the landscape. This creative exploration coincided with his move to a country estate in Connecticut, open to the natural world.
The exhibition thus presents the entirety of a body of work that is at once complex and simple, pure and elaborate, by an artist whose career could almost be described as « long fleuve tranquille ». Indeed, Calder’s private and artistic life appears to have flourished, in contrast to that of many of his peers throughout the turbulent 20th century. Calder also benefited relatively early on from the US government’s soft power initiatives supporting its contemporary artists, with major exhibitions and museum acquisitions taking place whilst they were still alive.
Catalogue : PAGE Suzanne, BUCHHART Dieter, HOFBAUER Anna Karina (dir.), Calder. Rêver en équilibre, catalogue de l’exposition (Paris, Fondation LVMH, 15 avril au 16 aout 2026), Paris, Hazan, 2026.
Dr. Charline Bessiere