Up until the 24^th of September 2012, the Pompidou Centre in Metz, in Eastern France, invites you to immerse yourself in the artistic world of 1917. You will find an exhibition that goes beyond the clichés of war art to question artistic creation in war time and brings to light the vast diversity of works created in a limited period.

The exhibition is organised into two parts: the first is dedicated to the diversity of artists' reactions in the face of war, the second studies the links between destruction, reconstruction and creation.

Art and war

The visit starts with a series of works aimed at providing an understanding of the different reactions of artists in the face of the events, depending on their involvement in the conflict. Paintings, manuscripts, photographs, sculptures… You will find very diverse works created by well-known or anonymous artists, like the "art of the trenches". Then you will come to the main nave where works dealing with destruction and reconstruction, but also protection and camouflage, are exhibited, with a whole part dedicated to the world of theatre.

Parade, the largest Picasso in the world

One of the works linked with the theatre presented in the exhibition will specially attract your attention. It is the stage curtain created by Pablo Picasso for the ballet Parade put on in 1917 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Its surface area of 170 square metres makes it the Spanish painter's largest work. This gigantic work, preserved by the Pompidou Museum, France's National Museum of Modern Art, has not been seen by the French public for twenty years.