PARIS.- The Musée d'Orsay, renowned for its impressive collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces, today welcomes a fresh perspective with the opening of "Lucas Arruda. What does the landscape matter," the first monographic exhibition in a French museum dedicated to the work of the celebrated Brazilian contemporary artist. This landmark show offers a deep dive into Arruda's captivating exploration of light and landscape, showcasing his unique artistic journey from recognizable forms towards the realm of abstraction.
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Arruda, considered a true talent in contemporary painting, has dedicated his practice to capturing the essence of landscapes through a meticulous and evolving approach. For over fifteen years, he has been developing his signature series of small-format paintings titled "Deserto-Modelo," a name borrowed from the evocative poetry of Brazilian writer João Cabral de Melo Neto. These "desert models" are not depictions of specific places, but rather imagined vistas, internal visions conjured from memory within the confines of his studio. Eschewing the direct observation of nature or the use of photographic references, Arruda's process relies entirely on the reconstruction of remembered sensations, often resulting in compositions that hover on the edge of abstraction.
Despite their abstract tendencies, Arruda's paintings share a notable kinship with the Impressionist movement, a cornerstone of the Musée d'Orsay's identity. Like Monet and his contemporaries, Arruda places a profound emphasis on the transformative power of light, using it as a central element to evoke mood and atmosphere. His canvases also carry a distinct sense of introspection, inviting viewers to contemplate the emotional resonance embedded within these imagined scenes.
In his own words, Lucas Arruda explains, "Light is at the center of my work, it is movement. It is light that guides my painting, that creates intensity and ends up creating spaces that are neither abstract nor figurative." This focus on light imbues his small paintings with a surprising dramatic tension, where each carefully placed brushstroke feels both deliberate and monumental within the intimate scale of the canvas.
The inspiration for inviting Lucas Arruda to exhibit at the Musée d'Orsay stems from a shared feeling among those who encounter his work: a sense of familiarity, as if these landscapes exist somewhere within our collective visual memory, whether in art or in our own minds. His panoramic motifs – subtle horizon lines, the hazy outlines of dense jungles, or expanses of cloud-strewn skies – possess a universal quality that makes pinpointing specific locations or time periods nearly impossible.
Yet, while Arruda's paintings evoke the rich tradition of landscape art so well-represented in the Musée d'Orsay's permanent collection – from the works of Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot and the Barbizon School to the dramatic seascapes of Gustave Courbet and the luminous basins of Eugène Boudin, not to mention the iconic Impressionists like Claude Monet and Paul Cézanne – there is a fundamental difference. The Orsay's landscape masters typically worked from direct observation of the world around them, while Lucas Arruda's creations are born entirely from his imagination. This distinction highlights an intriguing point of connection with Claude Monet, however. Arruda's repetitive exploration of similar motifs in series, with the ever-shifting representation of light as a key variable, echoes Monet's own serial studies, fostering a more intuitive understanding between the two artists across time and geography.
Reflecting this curatorial insight, the exhibition's layout thoughtfully juxtaposes approximately thirty Impressionist paintings from the Musée d’Orsay's esteemed collection with around thirty of Lucas Arruda's own canvases. This visual dialogue unfolds within the museum's Impressionist gallery on the fifth floor, inviting visitors to draw their own connections between these seemingly disparate yet conceptually linked artistic approaches.
The exhibition's intriguing subtitle, "What does the landscape matter," is a direct interpretation of a prose poem by the 19th-century Brazilian poet Manuel Bandeira. In his poem, Bandeira suggests that the grand, picturesque elements of the landscape – the Glória district of Rio de Janeiro, with its lush jungle, the bay, the horizon line – are perhaps less significant than the immediate context of artistic creation, symbolized by the humble alleyway. This sentiment resonates deeply with Arruda's own creative process. As he stated in a past interview, "My approach within the studio is at the heart of my creative process. I work accompanied by my artistic references, my experiences with the world and my relationship to life. I have no plan, no fixed project or preconceived idea before starting a new work; each painting shows me how to continue. Painting, for me, is like holding a candle in the darkness that only allows you to see what is close to you." This suggests that before the grand vision of a landscape can be imagined and painted, the artist must first engage with their immediate surroundings and inner world. The subtitle, therefore, should not be seen as a dismissal of landscape, but rather as an invitation to consider the deeper, more personal sources of artistic inspiration.
Adding another layer of engagement for art enthusiasts, this exhibition marks the first time that a contemporary project at the Musée d'Orsay has been presented in conjunction with a simultaneous monographic show at another institution. From April 30th to October 5th, 2025, the Carré d'Art in Nîmes will host "Lucas Arruda, Deserto-Modelo," an exhibition that will specifically highlight Arruda's multimedia works, offering a complementary perspective on his artistic practice.
"Lucas Arruda. What does the landscape matter" at the Musée d'Orsay is curated by Sylvain Amic, President of the Public Establishment of the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée de l’Orangerie – Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, and Nicolas Gausserand, Advisor to the President, in charge of international and contemporary issues. This exhibition promises to be a captivating exploration of memory, imagination, and the enduring allure of landscape, establishing Lucas Arruda as a significant voice in contemporary art on an international stage.
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