Villa Carmignac
SEA, POP & SUN
April 25 to November 1, 2026
Curators: Dieter Buchhart et Anna Karina Hofbauer
The Fondation Carmignac presents Sea, Pop & Sun, a radiant ode to the freedom and vitality of the 1960s and 1970s, invoking the spirit of Pop. At Villa Carmignac, nestled between pine trees and the sea, a sun-drenched, sensual, and dreamlike Pop Art unfolds — one that continues, to this day, to radiate its electric and exuberant energy.
With a title inspired by Serge Gainsbourg’s provocative hit, the exhibition sweeps us into the fantasy of a seaside escape, at a time when the sexual revolution was overturning conventions, social norms were shifting, and everything seemed possible. The south of France and its beaches were not merely holiday imagery, but gateways to horizons of freedom and transgression.
Here, far from the cities, amid the light, colors, and scents of the Mediterranean, Pop Art reveals new facets. It no longer draws on everyday objects or urban advertisements, but on motifs of another dimension: the sky, the sea, the sun, and the experience of vacation. While celebrating their integration into consumer society, Pop Art also draws from these landscapes and summer scenes a renewed sensuality and intensity — at times even cosmic.
Beneath the exaltation expressed by the pioneers of Pop Art, and by those who draw inspiration from it today, lies an awareness of an ephemeral paradise, with its artifices and disillusions. Unrestrained hedonism — particularly in holiday destinations now saturated and made fragile by overconsumption — confronts its consequences and no longer tastes quite the same.
What breath, what momentum, can the Pop spirit still offer today?
Bringing together more than 80 works — including 15 from the Carmignac Collection — Sea, Pop & Sun, curated by Dieter Buchhart and Anna Karina Hofbauer, creates a dialogue between Pop Art icons such as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Marjorie Strider, Evelyne Axell, and Martial Raysse, and contemporary artists who extend or question the movement, including Théo Mercier, Derrick Adams, Cosima von Bonin, and Judy Chicago.
Through a selection of paintings, sculptures, photographs, and videos, the exhibition rekindles a state of mind: that of a world oriented toward a radiant joie de vivre, aware of its contradictions yet still driven by the same desire for freedom.
Informations
Address: Piste de la Courtade Île de Porquerolles, 83400 Hyères