HELENE BAILLY Paris-Genève

For BRAFA 2025, galerie HELENE BAILLY traces the thread of modernity. Abstraction and figuration meet, as if in mirror, in a subtle and abundant scenography. From the exalted impressionism of Pierre-Auguste Renoir to the abstract audacities of Alexander Calder and Serge Poliakoff, via the inimitable touch of Kees Van Dongen and the power of Nicolas de Staël, the gallery highlights these intimate links that span time.

Alongside Renoir, works by Henri Martin and Pierre Bonnard illustrate two fundamental pictorial schools of the late 19th century: Post-Impressionism and Nabi painting. Their approaches to intimacy are a gentle response to Renoir’s delicate bouquet. Further on, an entire wall is devoted to the work of Dutch artist Kees Van Dongen, a tribute to one of the pioneers of Fauvism and his inimitable touch.

On the other side of the mirror, abstraction is revealed through a varied selection of paintings, sculptures and works on paper. Zao Wou-Ki, Nicolas de Staël and Serge Poliakoff each open up a profoundly original and radical path to new painting. A large mobile by Alexander Calder crowns this selection, symbolizing the internal movement that accompanies the great history of modernity.