Photo : Pinault Collection. Courtesy of the artist.
The History of Tears
Pinault Collection presents in the Rotunda and the twenty-four display cases of the Bourse de Commerce an exhibition by American artist Barbara Kruger, "The History of Tears".
Bourse de commerce - Pinault Collection (Paris 1st)
About
Conceived specifically for the Rotunda and the museum's display cases, Barbara Kruger's exhibition "The History of Tears" confronts visitors with an uninterrupted flow of words, phrases and injunctions, filmed sequences and voices.
At the heart of the museum, Tadao Ando's curved walls become the support for monumental quotes borrowed notably from the literary works 1984 (1949) by George Orwell and Notebook of a Return to the Native Land (1947) by Aimé Césaire, while the twenty-four display cases in the Passage, transformed into light boxes, punctuate the space with striking injunctions written by Barbara Kruger (born in 1945).
Mingled with this ensemble are two videos, reinstalled today in this new configuration. Directed and edited by the artist at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus (United States), Power, Pleasure, Desire, Disgust was presented for the first time in 1996 before being shown several times in different contexts, always linked to a textual environment. The works confront the visitor with a succession of faces, gazes and words where desire, domination, fear and violence mingle. Between verbal saturation and visual immersion, Barbara Kruger composes a total work where the intimate and the political, the body and language, collide in a hypnotic whirlwind whose scope resonates today with striking acuity.
"An endless deluge of eyes. A fountain of loss and fear. But also of power, pleasure, desire, and disgust. A reservoir that fills up through domination and conquest, on a global level as well as on a domestic scale. A fountain that gushes in moments of great violence and brutality, but also in the heart of the most intimate cruelties. It can be triumphalist in its magnitude, or drizzle, like a petty melodrama enameled with caricatures of seduction and grotesque rejection. It is a bodily production that is both remembered and forgotten. It is a body in tears, lost amidst the rubble of battles fought for money, land, love, and other bodies. Mapping this emotional fountain, inscribing it in its historical context, leads to stating the profound struggle between the powerful and the dispossessed, the loved and the unloved, the winners and the losers. It lets shame, pride, conviction, and doubt show through in an intensely threatening and tragically comic way. It can show us and tell us how we were, how we are, and how we will be towards one another."
— Barbara Kruger,
on "The History of Tears".
Curatorship: Matthieu Humery, photography advisor to the Pinault Collection, with the collaboration of Lola Regard, project manager.
Our take on this event
Words become weapons in this immersive installation where sharp typography confronts the visitor at every turn. Prepare for an intense dialogue between literature and imagery that challenges how you perceive power, desire, and the human condition.
The History of Tears by Barbara Kruger takes over the Bourse de commerce until December 31, 2026. This immersive installation transforms the museum's rotunda and glass display cases into a space where texts, videos, and voices collide. The American artist challenges visitors with a continuous stream of words inspired by literature, alongside filmed sequences exploring themes of power, desire, and fear. It is an intense visual experience that questions political and human dynamics with striking precision. This event is fully wheelchair accessible, ensuring that everyone can freely explore this monumental work at the heart of Paris.
The Bourse de commerce presents The History of Tears, an installation specifically designed by Barbara Kruger for the museum’s unique architecture. Within the rotunda, the curved walls designed by Tadao Ando serve as a canvas for monumental literary quotes from authors such as George Orwell and Aimé Césaire. Simultaneously, twenty-four display cases in the Passage are converted into light boxes featuring striking commands written by the artist.
The experience also incorporates the video work Power, Pleasure, Desire, Disgust, originally edited in 1996. Through a series of faces and spoken words, the artwork draws visitors into an intense investigation of human emotions, blending domination, violence, and intimacy. It is a total work of art where language and the body collide in a hypnotic setting.
The exhibition runs from October 7, 2026, to December 31, 2026. Visiting hours are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday from 11:00 to 19:00, with late-night access on Fridays until 21:00. Ticket prices range from 10 to 15 euros. The venue is fully accessible to wheelchair users.
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