Fabienne Verdier - The song of stars

Exhibition Catalogue Fabienne Verdier. The song of stars, presented at Musée Unterlinden, Colmar (1st October 2022 - 15 April 2023).

Readers will be offered the opportunity to observe the unprecedented connection established by the artist between the Issenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald and one of her monumental works, which takes its inspiration from the gamut of colors and the aura of light peculiar to Grünewald’s painting. Verdier’s aim is to reflect on the depiction of death no longer seen as an ending but rather as a trace of energy that is released for the living. This connection between man and cosmos, this vital energy: these are the themes at the root of the title—of the book as well as of the exhibition: The Song of Stars.

The large Rainbows installation holds a central role in this volume. The sixty-six works, inspired by the aura of light produced by the death of a star, are envisioned here as individuals, each with its own title that underlines its relationship with the sky, the stars, or light. Furthermore, for Verdier these works stand for the portraits of those who died in the Covid-19 pandemic; they are contemporary icons that give life to a universal work of art.