Contributor
Anne Baldassari
Anne Baldassari entered the French Ministère de la Culture in 1983, where she was responsible for a program of support and innovation in contemporary art. In 1985 she joined the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, and in 1991 was appointed to the Musée national Picasso, Paris, where she was a curator, director, and then president of the museum until 2014. In 1992 she published the complete catalogue of Simon Hantaï’s work in the collection of the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou. Baldassari curated Simon Hantaï: The Centenary Exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, in 2022.
Simon Hantaï: Azzurro Blue
In conjunction with Azzurro, an exhibition of paintings by Simon Hantaï at Gagosian, Rome, we share the catalogue essay by curator Anne Baldassari. Here Baldassari focuses on the significance of blue in the artist’s practice, illuminating his affinity with Italy and the influence on his work of its classical painting tradition.
Simon Hantaï: Les blancs de la couleur, la couleur du blanc
Anne Baldassari reflects on the art historical influences and radical breaks reflected in the artist’s work with color.
Simon Hantaï
Anne Baldassari reflects on the time she spent working with Simon Hantaï on an ultimately unrealized stained-glass commission for the Cathédrale Saint-Cyr-et-Sainte-Julitte, Nevers, and explains how this endeavor served as the catalyst for an exhibition of Hantaï’s paintings that she curated at Gagosian, Le Bourget, in 2019.