Virtual Tour

«I want to be a beginning, not an end; to open the century; if I have a role in art, it’s that.»
Maillol

Aristide Maillol (Banyuls-sur-Mer, Rousillon, France, 1861-1944) is one of the most outstanding and original sculptors of the opening half of the last century and was a pioneer of modernity in sculpture, as his work constituted a break with the past. By decisively abandoning the grandiloquence and narrativism typical of statuary at the close of the 19th century, he paved the way for one of the most important ways in which the formal language of sculpture in the 20th century was renewed.

Maillol’s work represents the enduring reinvention of the concept of beauty at a time when modern art was shattering the depiction of reality. Maillol rejected this movement and, through an extreme simplification of volumes, strove to achieve pure form, just as the painters of his day sought pure colour.

With this survey exhibition, Caixa Catalunya offers the visitor a unique opportunity to learn about and arrive at a full appreciation of the work of this great northern Catalan artist.

Profile of a Girl, 1890
Oil on canvas, 73.5 x 103 cm
Musée des Beaux-Arts Hyacinthe Rigaud, Perpignan.
Musée d'Orsay collection. Inv. D. 56. 6. 1