Exhibitions
A luminous circle in Paris between Cocteau and Fenosa
The Apel·les Fenosa Foundation creates a journey through creative friendships and artistic complicity that marked Paris in the 1920s.
The exhibition Entre Cocteau i Fenosa. Le Cercle Lumineux 1920-1960 , which can be visited at the Museu Apel·les Fenosa until April 12, 2026, invites the public to discover the most intimate links between the Catalan sculptor and some of the key figures of 20th-century culture, such as Coco Chanel, Pablo Picasso, Misia Sert, Dora Maar and Jean Marais. Curated by Nekane Aramburu, director of the Fundació Apel·les Fenosa, the exhibition highlights the network of complicities that united artists from different disciplines and nationalities, and that decisively marked European art of the interwar period.
The exhibition proposal has the collaboration of the Musée Jean Cocteau de Menton, the Successió Cocteau and the Archives Chanel, placing the visitor in the vibrant Paris of the 1920s, an effervescent cultural context full of creative tensions. In this setting, Pablo Picasso introduced the sculptor Apel·les Fenosa (Barcelona, 1899 – Paris, 1988) to the poet and playwright Jean Cocteau (France, 1889 – 1963) during Fenosa's first Parisian exile. That meeting gave rise to a deep and lasting friendship, which withstood wars, successes and difficulties, and which became the basis of an artistic and human dialogue that the exhibition reveals in detail.
The tour allows us to get closer to an unrepeatable moment in the history of art, characterized by the uniqueness of its protagonists and the creative energy that surrounded them. Multifaceted figures, with kaleidoscopic personalities, who combined the strength of imagination with a constant awareness of the fragility of life. The exhibition shows how this tension between courage and fear, between artistic ambition and awareness of death, fueled joint projects and creative complicity that we can rediscover and value today.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the exhibition is the way it delves into the research shared between Fenosa and Cocteau: mythologies, metamorphoses and constant transformation, traversed from bodily action and visual poetics. These experiences, often difficult to categorize, demonstrate how the creators of this circle conceived of art and life as an integrated whole, where form, movement and idea constantly dialogued with emotion.
In short, Between Cocteau and Fenosa not only reveals the personal and professional ties of these exceptional artists, but also offers a deep look at the historical, social and emotional context that shaped their works. An experience that combines historical rigor, artistic sensitivity and a human narrative full of nuances, capable of transporting the visitor to the heart of a creative and unforgettable Paris.
