Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

Murs de peintures Daniel Buren

This ensemble of 20 paintings, realised between 1966 and 1977 was first displayed in the Museum as part of the exhibition Passions privées. Since the paintings entered the collections, the ensemble has become an indivisible whole in accordance with the artists wish.

Daniel Buren’s installations conform to a precise protocol. Although originally they were displayed on two facing walls, the paintings were grouped together in 2006 when they were re-hung in the permanent collections.

The paintings are of various formats and colours and the rhythmic and ornamental dimensions of the ensemble are countered by the strict formality of their display.

Daniel Buren said in “Au sujet de…” (1998), “My works are totally dependent on the places for which they were designed; they actually upset the traditional, supposed autonomy of the work of art… An autonomy (or rather a belief in autonomy, which is not quite the same thing) which still heavily marks the history of Western art, and is the key factor in the ideology of art.” Every painting re-engages the confrontation with their unique reality, reaffirming the logic of a consistent discourse that Daniel Buren has developed over and over again throughout his career.