Opening of the exhibition Robert Mapplethorpe

He is one of the most illustrious photographers of the 20th century. Today, the Grand Palais proposes to rediscover Robert Mapplethorpe’s career through a magnificently scenographed retrospective in the Galerie Sud-Ouest of the Parisian institution, until 13 July 2014. Unmistakable.

Obsessed with an aesthetic quest for perfection, Robert Mapplethorpe has left his mark on the world of modern photography. First with his black and white extremely licked which upset the notion of art photography since the beginning of the Seventies and pushed to its paroxysm the idea of beauty. For his portraits and nudes in the air of Greek sculptures, then, like so many allegories to Michelangelo, but also his still lifes, sometimes phallic, sometimes floral, sometimes mystical.

But Robert Mapplethorpe is also the New York arty and homosexual of the 70s and 80s, both in his creative power and his prestigious circles – he will be the companion of Sam Wagstaff, Patti Smith’s unfailing acolyte, will have Lisa Lyons as his muse, will frequent Andy Wahrol, Grace Jones, or even Iggy Pop – and in his dark shutters, cut down by the

At the police station this large retrospective gathering more than 250 prints (partly from the Guggenheim Museum of NY), Jérôme Neutres makes the visitor walk between eroticism and classicism, until this box planted in the middle of the picture rails… forbidden to under 18s.

Robert Mapplethorpe at the Grand Palais
Until 13 July 2014