Félicien Rops – Laboratory of Lust | Kunsthaus Zurich

Sexuality, eroticism and obsession lie at the heart of an art that resists moral appeasement. Félicien Rops. Laboratory of Lust presents a body of work that challenges conventions, exposes bourgeois hypocrisy and continues to provoke today.

Tickets

CHF 24.–/17.–* including access to the entire collection.
*Reduced admission

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Free entry with a membership, plus an invitation to the vernissage in the presence of the artist and many other benefits!

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Félicien Rops’ demonic-erotic imagery ranks among the most radical positions of the fin de siècle. His works deliberately opposed bourgeois morality and exposed its hypocrisy through irony, provocation and graphic precision. While celebrated as a book illustrator collaborating with literary outsiders such as Charles Baudelaire and Stéphane Mallarmé, Rops simultaneously developed a private body of work deliberately withdrawn from public view. In drawings and prints, he pushed the gender stereotypes of his era to the extreme and challenged prevailing social norms.

Developed in close cooperation with the Royal Library of Belgium (KBR), the exhibition presents around 70 works from international collections, including numerous works from the KBR as well as key pieces from the Musée Félicien Rops, the Musée Marmottan Monet and the Musée d’Orsay. The exhibition is conceived and curated by Jonas Beyer (Kunsthaus Zurich) and Daan van Heesch (KBR).

"I have only one quality: an ideal despised by the public, and some of my sheets are nothing more than an attempt to bring my backside up to the audience’s facial level."

Félicien Rops

Gallery

Rops_Le Sphinx — Félicien Rops, Le Sphinx, ca 1882, Fondation Roi Baudouin, en dépôt au musée Félicien Rops, Namur

Rops_LEntreacte de Minerve — Félicien Rops, L‘Entracte de Minerve, 1878, Collection de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, en dépôt au Musée Félicien Rops, Namur

Rops_Le Bouge a matelots — Félicien Rops, Le Bouge à matelots, 1875, Collection de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, en dépôt au Musée Félicien Rops, Namur

Rops_La Revolution sociale — Félicien Rops, La Révolution sociale, 1878, Musée Félicien Rops, Namur

Rops_La Tentation de saint Antoine — Félicien Rops, La Tentation de saint Antoine, 1878, Royal Library of Belgium (KBR), Brussels

Rops_Heure du Sabbat — Félicien Rops, L‘Heure du Sabbat, 1874, Royal Library of Belgium (KBR), Brussels

Rops_La Dame au patin II — Félicien Rops, La Dame au pantin II, 1877, Fondation Roi Baudouin - Fonds Charles Vreeken, en dépôt au musée Félicien Rops, Namur

Program

Sun 12.4. 11:00-12:00

Guided Tour

Exhibition Catalogue

The exhibition is accompanied by a lavishly illustrated catalogue published by Hirmer Verlag. With essays by, among others, Juliane Au, Elisabeth Bronfen and Véronique Carpiaux, the publication explores key themes in Félicien Rops’s work and its significance within the context of the fin de siècle. The catalogue is available in German or English at the Art Shop (Moser-Building).