At the invitation of the Louvre, Marlene Dumas created Liaisons, a work consisting of nine paintings conceived for the vast wall of the Porte des Lions atrium. The dimensions of the canvases match those of the marble bas-reliefs that once hung on this wall.
Liaisons thus becomes part of the history of the Louvre and its museography. It also fits into the history of large-scale painted décors, artistic interventions, and in situ commissions in museum spaces.
Marlene Dumas designed Liaisons for this space, located at the entrance to the Gallery of the Five Continents and the Louvre's painting department, close to the Grande Galerie. This proximity to renowned masterpieces of painting takes on particular significance given that the artist's work is deeply rooted in this medium, constantly combining sources and stories, much like the musée du Louvre itself.
These “liaisons,” a title given by the artist based on a word that exists in both French and English, are those that link territories to one another and people to one another, reflecting a sensitive and emotional relationship to art as a fragment of humanity, with an implicit romantic resonance.
Liaisons demonstrates the artist's remarkable virtuosity and technique, which is both free and precise. Some of these faces are more abstract, others more gestural, and some reflect rather the traces of drawings. Each of the nine panels retains its individuality and assumes its unique status within the ensemble. Marlene Dumas conceived this series with the museum's spirit in mind: the Louvre as a place to encounter and be in the presence of works of art, to to bring those in converssation.
Over the years, Marlene Dumas has continually cited, referenced, and incorporated works from the Louvre into her own art. Her creative process brings together images from her archive and shifts them into the pictorial realm ; in making this work, she has set no limits on the type and the form of her inspirations from the collections. She works from pre-existing images and combines the texture of painting with a profound reflection on the history of art and forms.
Laurence des Cars, President-director of the musée du Louvre: "Marlene Dumas is one of the greatest painters of our time. When we were thinking about a work for the entrance to the Portes des Lions, which is both the access to the Gallery of the Five Continents and the Department of Paintings, she seemed the obvious choice: she defends and illustrates the medium of painting like few others, and her work is conceived as a space for bringing together different sensibilities and origins. That is exactly what we aimed for to do with this redesigned space. We are proud of the outcome of this magnificent project. Marlene Dumas' work is a repertoire of ways of painting and drawing, as well as an invitation to confront our humanity"
Main Image: Marlene Dumas. LIAISONS au musée du Louvre. 2025 ©Musée du Louvre - Nicolas Bousser