Vulnerables
The history of the Pitié-Salpêtrière AP-HP hospital is intimately linked to that of women who were confined, marginalized and ostracized by society until the 19th century.
Even today, the hospital welcomes human frailty in all its forms.
The Vulnerables exhibition, curated by Professor David COHEN, will be on display in the grand chapelle Saint-Louis de la Salpêtrière from June 24 to September 21, 2025.
-
From June 24th to September 21st
-
Exposition
-
Chapelle Saint-Louis
Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière -
Oui
At the crossroads of medicine, art history and contemporary visual art, the exhibition Vulnérables offers a dialogue between the chapel's historic architecture, a majestic 17th-century setting, and contemporary works that explore various forms of vulnerability - mental, physical and social - through a variety of media including painting, photography, video, sculpture and interactive installations. Art leads us to think, see and hear
this fragility.
Naturally, the exhibition addresses themes of suffering, resilience and the transformative power of art. International artists exhibit works that question representations of madness, illness, care and the stigma associated with these conditions. These include internationally renowned artists such as Jean Dubuffet, two of whose monumental works are on loan from the Renault Foundation, Johan Creten and Michel Nedjar.
The exhibition also features Art Brut artists such as Dan Miller, Shinishi Sawada, Miroslav Tichy, Tomacz Machinski, André Robillard and Jacques Soisson, whose correspondence with Dubuffet will be presented.
Finally, through a scenography imagined by Florence Laneurie, several works have been specifically conceived for the exhibition or in connection with the history of the hospital:
- Exorcismes by Liz Magic Laser celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charcot, the hospital's famous neuropsychiatrist;
- Insoumissions by Francine Saillant and Camille Courier examines the memory of asylums and the people who lived in them; and the installations
- Frères Humains and Fantômes by David Cohen explore the relationship with death and, more generally, vulnerability as an intrinsic part of the human condition.