César, the man who helped create the Fondation Cartier: he explained to Alain Dominique Perrin that artists need money to create and places to exhibit their work, suggesting that they should create such a space. Unknown to wider audiences in the early 1980s, the initial work of sculptor César consisted of many creations that used welded iron.

Through the Les Fers de César exhibition presented in Jouy-en-Josas in 1984, the Fondation Cartier was able to showcase the artist’s work from between the years of 1955 and 1963, displaying both a remarkable aesthetic homogeneity and a fascinating, uninhibited imagination that was entirely unique.

This exhibition was born from an encounter between shamans from the Yanomami village of Watoriki, in the Brazilian Amazon, and a group of international artists.

One by one, they were welcomed into the Yanomami community before exposing their creative universes to the Yanomami concept of shamanic images, with the intention to create a ‘free association’ space rather than illustrate or translate. Since then, the Fondation has continued to support the Yanomami cause and has presented artistic projects created by indigenous artists from all over the world.

An iconic figure in African contemporary art and an ambassador for Congolese artists, as well as for his colleagues and friends at the Kinshasa ateliers where he lives and works, Chéri Samba creates brightly-colored paintings, sometimes enhanced by glitter and accompanied by a hand-written message criticizing, condemning and questioning the world.

He was among the first artists to stay in residence in Jouy-en-Josas. Since then, his ties to the Fondation have been repeatedly demonstrated, most notably during the Beauté Congo – 1926-2015 – Congo Kitoko, 2015 exhibition.

The Fondation Cartier became the first institution to unveil the work of movie director David Lynch during a very special event. Experimenting with all forms of creative expression, from painting to photography, drawing and sound creation, David Lynch’s work is among the most protean of our time.

His connection with the Fondation has led to his contributions to exhibitions such as Mathematics: A Beautiful Elsewhere in 2011 for which he did the scenography in the ground-floor space and gave a concert with Patti Smith. David Lynch also came up with Jeweled Triangle for the Cartier, Jeweler of the Arts exhibition in 2012 which presented a body of work created from precious and semi-precious stones.

At a critical point in the world’s history, where our actions and plans for the future were becoming heavily influenced by the environment, the Native Land, Stop Eject exhibition reflected on the ideas of taking root and uprooting, as well as the identity questions attached to those ideas.

While Raymond Depardon spoke in front of people who, despite being pushed to leave, wanted to remain in their land, Paul Virilio exposed the threat to the very idea of settled life in the face of unprecedented levels of migration in the contemporary world.