In Paris, the tiny Saint-Séverin gallery highlights art and spirituality

In the heart of the Latin Quarter, the dialogue has continued for thirty-five years between contemporary art and Christian spirituality. Born in 1989 from an initiative of the parishioners of Saint-Séverin, the gallery of the same name is located just opposite the porch of this 13th century church. Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, then Archbishop of Paris, entrusted its management to the Art, Culture and Faith association.

In terms of gallery, we should rather speak of a window since it is not possible to enter this cramped space which belongs to the diocese. Laid out like a showcase, accessible free of charge day and night, the place, open onto a pedestrian street, is very popular with artists for the exceptional visibility it offers them. Young talents or better-known names (Jean-Michel Alberola, Christian Boltanski, Jean-Michel Othoniel, etc.), more than 150 contemporary artists have already exhibited there.

The choice of guests, whose work is presented for a quarter, falls to a curator appointed by the association, generally for two years. Since January 2024, Dominican Marc Chauveau has assumed this responsibility. “Even if the subject is not religious, there must be a spiritual dimension to the work,” he explains. The formula is simple: “We lend the place to the artists and they lend us a work, which has often been created especially for the place. »

Make works accessible

This is the case of Jörg Gessner, a German artist who lives in Lyon (Rhône), and whose painting is on display until the beginning of December 2024. Title Perspective #4 due to the fading light characteristic of autumn, this ink work done on layered Japanese papers “evokes the horizon which dissolves in the light at both ends, as in a mist. The light that seems to emerge from the painting is indeed the main subject of this contemplative work,” observes Marc Chauveau.

Concerned with “making contemporary art accessible to as many people as possible”, the Dominican concludes: “We must learn to understand today’s artists, who speak to us about our time. » Message well received by passers-by of all ages who stop in front of the window. Turning around, they only have to take one step to enter the church and admire the stained glass windows of the seven sacraments by Jean Bazaine, from 1970. Another artist of today.