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Piet Mondrian, Alexander Calder, Niki de Saint Phalle, and Pierre Soulages are among the twentieth-century artists whose names have entered our everyday language, conjuring images and evoking objects, motifs, colors. Today, we use expressions anchored in our collective imagination such as International Klein Blue or a Giacometti figure, and visitors at the Centre Pompidou are able to identify a Picasso, a Matisse, or a Miró.
There must be a good reason for this—or rather, a variety of explanations : while some artists rose to fame at an early age, others patiently plowed their own furrows to establish their art. Abstract art, Dadaism, surrealism, all the avant-garde movements had their leading figures. Some fell prey to advertising when others played parts in novels and TV series, each carving out their own legend and influencing the next generations.
We have all seen or heard of Duchamp's urinal, César's compressions, and Warhol's self-portrait. But the question is : Why ?