Bagyi Aung Soe

The Centre Pompidou presents the first major exhibition dedicated to Bagyi Aung Soe (1923-1990), a pioneering and prolific figure in modern Burmese art. A selection of more than three hundred works and documents traces the development of his practice over four decades, from the 1940s to the 1990s: oils on canvas, felt-tip pen works on paper, paintings under glass and illustrations are accompanied by archives and original hand-written documents. Exploring the combination of artistic and spiritual heritages - modern Western art, the thought of Rabindranath Tagore, the precepts and practices of Buddhism, Burmese classical and folk art, and other Asian arts - in a historically turbulent context, this exhibition aims to highlight Bagyi Aung Soe’s specific and plural artistic modernity.