Vija Celmins

The Orangerie Museum presents the drawings, paintings, and prints by Vija Celmins in a contemporary counterpoint to Monet's Water Lilies. Created between 1971 and 2000, the works take as motifs the sea, the night sky, snow, or the desert. Their common thread becomes evident upon closer inspection. They often lack a horizon, a silhouette, or another reference point that would allow one to situate what one is seeing.

In Night Sky #11, points of light occupy the surface without indicating where the sky begins or ends. Elsewhere, the grain of a drawing or the relief of a print gives body to an expanse of water or snow. The motif seems capable of continuing beyond the frame, even as each detail draws the viewer's gaze back to the surface of the work.

The proximity to the Water Lilies extends this experience. For Monet as for Celmins, the visitor must take time to look at an expanse that no horizon line organizes. The two artists achieve this through gestures and at very different scales.

Practical information
- Closed on Tuesdays and on December 25.
- Evening openings on Fridays until 9 pm during the exhibition period.