The body and matter. Félix Roulin in Louvain-la-Neuve

This exhibition dedicated to the sculptor Félix Roulin was born from the desire to celebrate the thirty years of the Pierre de Coubertin square, inaugurated in 1996 with the ensemble Hommage au corps en douze fragments, attitudes et mouvements (Homage to the body in twelve fragments, attitudes and movements). Born in 1931, Félix Roulin is the author of a colossal body of work – more than two thousand sculptures in seventy years – developed in an uninterrupted dialogue with raw material and the human body. The exhibition traces the major directions of this work: from the lyrical abstraction of the 1950s to body fragments magnified by bronze, from homages to Homer and Baudelaire to the futuristic visions of Hermes and Icarus. The exhibition is spread over four complementary sites, each shedding light on a different facet of the work. Le Learning Center Christine de Pizan constitutes the core: sculptures, models, and documents trace the major stages of his long career, from post-war sacred art to lyrical abstraction, from body fragments emerging from the clay to dialogues with mythology and art history. It is also here that Félix Roulin created his Relecture du Laocoon, visible in the outdoor patio adjacent to the exhibition hall. The Pierre de Coubertin square is the monumental heart of the exhibition. Hommage au corps en douze fragments, attitudes et mouvements, inaugurated in 1996, deploys in the public space a vision that is both heroic and intimate of the human body: bronze fragments, naked and anonymous, emerge from their pedestals like so many moments captured in time. Le Musée L presents two complementary works: Silhouette, an abstract sculpture, and a print of the Torse du Belvédère, testifying to the constant dialogue that Roulin maintains with ancient art. The industrial zoning finally offers an unexpected encounter: since 1977, a broken column has been emerging from the ground, mixing archaic memory and contemporary landscape. A work to be discovered outside the walls, where sculpture meets the territory.