German endocrinologist Thomas Olbricht is one of the world’s most fervent collectors of macabre art, with a 2500-strong collection of pieces spanning five centuries. On show at the Maison Rouge (for the first time ever in France) is a portion of this impressive collection – a veritable ‘curiosity shop’ of weird and wonderful contemporary artworks, vanities, paintings from the Nordic Renaissance, stuffed animals and erotic decorations portraying grotesque creatures.
Modern pieces to look out for include French artist Antoine Roegiers’ 2011 take of Pieter Brueghel’s ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ (1559) - a video swarming with grotesque creatures, eroticism and debauchery; and Belgium sculptor Thomas Lerooy’s ‘The Kiss’ (2009), which portrays two skull-headed cherubs attempting en embrace inside a clinical, glass box.