The Centre Pompidou is currently exhibiting front covers of Charlie Hebdo magazine printed between 1969 and 1986 in its library, the Bibliothèque Kandinsky. Paying tribute to the victims of the attack against the controversial paper on January 7, this exhibit was rapidly pulled together by gallery staff the following day.
Such a display would have been unimaginable 40 years ago: illustrators Wolinski, Cabu, Reiser and Gébé sent many caricatures of president Georges Pompidou to print during his presidency. This uneasy historical relationship makes the current exhibit a particularly powerful gesture of solidarity in the name of free speech on the gallery’s part.