Nouveau Réalisme at Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation

So, what's on your New Year's resolutions list? Visiting Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation’s Nouveau Réalisme, its first major, international exhibition in Athens, is definitely on ours.

The origin of New Realism is found in 1960s France and it was the movement that came to being between Dada and Pop Art. Considered by many the European counterpart to Pop Art, the movement was founded by art critic Pierre Restany and artist Yves Klein and as stated in their manifesto, it was all about finding new ways of perceiving the real.

Collage, assemblage and readymades—homage to Dada pioneer Marcel Duchamp—are some of the forms new realist art takes. Yves Klein in particular was extraordinarily inventive in his short career, staging various happenings and carrying out early examples of performance art.

The exhibition features works by artists who signed the Manifesto of New Realism: Yves Klein, Niki de Saint Phalle, César, Christo, Arman, Gérard Deschamps, François Dufrêne, Raymond Hains, Martial Raysse, Mimmo Rotella, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely and Jacques Villeglé.

Marie Koutsomallis-Moreau, Head of the Goulandris Foundation’s Collection, and Marion Meyer, President of the Man Ray International Association, are the co-curators of the exhibition and will be leading a discussion on different aspects of the nouveau réalisme art movement on the opening day.