"Infinite is the number of fools"
Ecclesiastes , chapter I, 15

In the beginning was "the fool", a poor fool devoid of wisdom who turns away from God. Relegated to the margins, he leaves the religious sphere during the Middle Ages to flourish in the profane world and become in turn the one who entertains, warns, denounces, reverses values, or even overturns the established order.
Recognizable by his emblematic attributes - hood with donkey ears or cock's crest, bells, little bells, hobby horse, colorful costume -, this figure evolves over the centuries and is embodied in multiple avatars: court fools, fools of love or jesters then invade the entire Western artistic space.
From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance and up to the modern era, an exceptional journey through the art of Northern Europe brings together nearly 350 works as diverse as the characters they depict: illuminated manuscripts, printed books, engravings, tapestries, sculptures, precious or everyday objects and paintings by illustrious artists, such as Bosch, Bruegel, Géricault, Courbet...
Under the expert gaze of the greatest specialists, this work invites us to reflect on what the norm preserves and what it rejects. It proposes to reconsider some major articulations of history and art history, in the light of this figure who crystallizes worries and passions.
A dive into a world of madness that refers us to ourselves and to our relationship with the Other.

Exhibition "Figures of the Fool From the Middle Ages to the Romantics" at the musée du Louvre from 16 October 2024 - 3 February 2025.

French

456 pages
Co-publishing Gallimard/Musée du Louvre