The KUNSTHALLE GIESSEN is dedicating the exhibition Sui Generis to French artist Pierre Molinier (1900–1976) on the 50th anniversary of his death. The show offers a comprehensive insight into the provocative work of one of the most radical artists of the 20th century.
Pierre Molinier, painter, photographer, and performer, created a visual world that transcends and challenges traditional categories of identity, gender, and desire. The exhibition brings together provocative erotic photographs, photomontages, collages, personal archive material, objects, and furniture from his studio apartment, offering compelling insights into the life and work of a figure who oscillated between surrealism and self-staging.
Molinier's works are created at the intersection of painting, photography, and montage; he often appears as a model himself, deliberately subverting binary gender roles and creating images of the body that are at once erotic, androgynous, and transgressive. In the 1950s, Molinier was introduced to surrealism by André Breton, but his work remained on the margins of reception for a long time—today it is considered a key precursor to later discourses on body politics, queerness, performative identity, and the relationship between art and desire. The exhibition in Giessen brings this multi-layered artistic practice to life and places one of the most influential, yet often misunderstood artists of the 20th century at the center of artistic discourse.
April 17 to July 5, 2026
