On a cool June evening in Paris, over eggs mayonnaise, my friend Brunhilde turned to me with characteristic enthusiasm and said, ‘You must stay at Robert's and my home.’ She handed me the keys with a smile and simple instructions: ‘Live here for a few days and come up with an exhibition.’ 

L'INVITATION AU VOYAGE is my response, born from those days in their duplex flat, a literal stone's throw from the Fondation Le Corbusier in the 16th arrondissement. I was transported to another world— mystical and earthy —of artists with the spirit of poets. The scent of opoponax, Robert’s etched glass panels, lush decorative wall panelling, a Napoleon-tent-painted bedroom, and the giant neo-Art Deco fireplace animated the space.

Lounging on Brunhilde’s Provençal textiles in the four-poster bed they made, I realised their home is a total work of art, conceived with their friend, designer Alix Thomsen —a space that carries the whispers of friendship and collaboration.

Now, I, too, have been welcomed into this circle, and I extend the invitation to new and old friends, presenting works by Flavie Audi, Marion Benoit, Lise Bouissière, Enrico David, Robert Elfgen, Brunhilde Bordeaux-Groult, Agnes Scherer, Stephanie Stein, Kiki Smith, Sebastian Stöhrer, and Rosemarie Trockel, alongside historical masterpieces by Maurice Denis, Max Ernst, Andreas Feininger, and František Kupka.

Inspired by Baudelaire's L'Invitation au Voyage, the exhibition unfolds like a dream—a fluid interplay between imagination and reality. Room by room—from living areas and bedrooms to bathrooms and the garden—the exhibition leads you through a series of settings where art, nature, and reverie unite. Here, everything feels interconnected, imbued with Baudelaire’s sense of calm, luxury, and sensuous delight (calme, luxe, et volupté).