The group show features works by Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Tom Wesselmann, Hans Op de Beeck, Ewa Juszkiewicz, and Claire Tabouret, among others, from 12 February to 22 March 2026.

The still life and the figure are among the most intimate artistic motifs. Often drawn from the artist’s immediate surroundings, they depict a choice to represent the mundane, capturing a fleeting moment for eternity. Possibilities abound when the two genres intersect and unite.

Impressionism brought a resurgence of still life and a revolution in figurative art. Artists advocated for the importance of technique and the depiction of atmosphere over subject matter. Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Anémones dans un vase attests to the artist’s interest in light, exploring arrangements of shape and colour to create a joyful, dynamic work.

Pablo Picasso placed still life and portraiture at the forefront of the avant-garde through his experiments with space and form. While Nature morte aux poissons et au couteau demonstrates his ability to elevate the simplest subject matter, Profil gauche de femme (Marie-Thérèse) captures Picasso’s mastery of portraiture and his ability to convey a likeness with a few deliberate, expressive lines.

In mid-century America, Tom Wesselmann dedicated himself to figuration, declaring “as my subject matter, the history of art.” But his work did not replicate the past; instead, it updated its modes for modern life by exploring post-war consumerism, patriotism, and beauty. Wesselmann’s Little Great American Nude #23 links artistic movements, citing Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (the reclining nude) and Henri Rousseau (the bouquet of flowers). Both referential and forward-thinking, the work evokes the past while also capturing a modern sensibility through its utilization of collage.

The themes of desire, power, and beauty that interested Wesselmann echo in Jeanette Mundt’s Olympia. A critical development within modern and contemporary art is the ever-increasing inclusion of female voices. Though long a subject of art, women fought to achieve parity as artists in their own right. Works by contemporary artists Ewa Juszkiewicz, Claire Tabouret, Jess Valice, and Inès Longevial endeavour to capture the female figure in all of her complexity.

Meanwhile, Hans Op de Beeck presents his interpretation of the Vanitas; shoes, fruit, and candles symbolise the transience of life. A candle reappears in Not Vital’s Self-portrait. Encapsulating the intersection between portraiture and still life, the mysterious, flickering subject is at once a flame and a portrait of the artist himself, a haunting memento mori for his own time. If this exhibition proves one thing, it is that the motif of the figure and the still life remain as relevant in 2026 – across abstract and figurative art – as they were in 1915 or 1984.

Almine Rech Gstaad
Chalet Wilibenz | Bahnhofstrasse 1 | 3780 Gstaad
contact.gstaad@alminerech.com | alminerech.com