Chéri Samba Dans La Collection Jean Pigozzi

Exhibition at the Musée Maillol, Paris, 17 October 2023 - 7 April 2024

Chéri Samba (1956-) is the most famous African painter of his generation, a leading figure in the Congolese "popular art" that he helped to bring to the fore. From the streets of Kinshasa to the walls of the world's most famous cultural institutions, his work carries with it his signature universal message. His boldly coloured figurative paintings challenge, denounce, caricature and provoke, often with humour, in a style that is anything but naïve.

This catalogue of the first retrospective of Chéri Samba's work presents 50 paintings from the Jean Pigozzi collection, the most important collection of contemporary African art in the world. The book follows several "Sambaïan" themes - self-portraiture, the Congo and Africa, geopolitics and the environment, art history and women - shedding light on a body of work that is as singular as it is fascinating, transcending all geographical and artistic boundaries.