Drawing on the universe of Catherine Gran, whose five paintings form the heart of the exhibition trail, "Les Monstres tendres" brings together artists from different generations around a shared fascination with metamorphosis and hybridity.
From the fantastical figures of Surrealism to contemporary creatures, the works on display unsettle forms and conventions. Paintings, sculptures, lamps and unusual objects make up a world where bodies are recomposed, objects come to life, and the boundaries between the human, the animal and the imaginary fade away.
But behind their extravagant appearances, these monsters also tell us something deeply human. Sometimes unsettling, sometimes endearing, they question our relationship to difference, to imperfection and to our own fragilities. Far from representing only the strange or the frightening, they become figures with whom we can identify, like so many mirrors of our contradictions and of our humanity.