The exhibition Leonardo Cremonini. Le Regard en miroir pays tribute to Leonardo Cremonini, considered one of the leading figurative painters of post-war Europe. Presented at the Espace Richaud, this retrospective of 80 paintings spans his entire career, from his early years between Paris and southern Italy, with paintings centred on the threefold theme of the mineral, vegetal and animal worlds, through to the large-scale works in acidic hues that established his reputation from the 1960s onwards, and finally to the more meditative works of the later part of his career.

Impossible to categorize, Leonardo Cremonini’s painting is characterized by a constant attention to the construction of space, and the rendering of textures and material. In meticulously composed works, the artist explores human emotions and affects, staging them through a masterful treatment of colour and framing. His paintings evoke the power of desire, its games and prohibitions, as well as boredom, abandonment and incomprehension.

Several monumental large-scale works bear witness to his distinctive style, which emerged rapidly in the 1960s. These include beach scenes of apparent leisure, conveying a sense of existential boredom, children’s games that subvert the order of the adult world, and intimate interior scenes animated by reflections and the interpenetration of spaces, such as the oil on canvas Au dos du désir (1966), on loan from the Fondation Gandur pour l’Art.

Alongside this exhibition, a second presentation at the Musée Lambinet, running from 27 May to 20 September 2026, features a series of paintings reflecting Leonardo Cremonini’s strong interest in Old Master painting, together with a selection of works on paper dating from the 1950s to 2000.