In a historic move for the world’s most visited museum, Marlene Dumas has become the first contemporary female artist to have her work inducted into the permanent collection of the Louvre. The museum officially unveiled the acquisition, a site-specific installation titled Liaisons, in November 2025.
The installation consists of nine paintings created specifically for the Porte des Lions atrium, a strategic transition space connecting the Department of Paintings and the Gallery of the Five Continents. Commissioned by Louvre President-Director Laurence des Cars, the work marks a significant shift in the institution’s acquisition history, which has historically favored Old Masters and male contemporary figures such as Anselm Kiefer, Cy Twombly, and François Morellet.
The Installation: Liaisons
Liaisons is comprised of nine canvases that match the dimensions of the marble bas-reliefs that previously occupied the wall. The series features a sequence of faces that range from the abstract to the expressive, rendered in Dumas’s signature wash-like, spectral style.
According to the artist, the work is intended to serve as a dialogue between the museum’s storied past and the complexities of the present. “Faces deal with the nameless,” Dumas stated regarding the commission. “They include those dehumanized, like fugitives, branded as aliens.”
The location of the work is deliberate. Positioned at a threshold between different departments, the title Liaisons—a word shared by both French and English—suggests connections between territories, eras, and people. The series draws inspiration from literary and art historical sources, including Charles Baudelaire’s Paris Spleen and the Louvre’s own collection, such as Michelangelo’s Dying Slave.
A Strategic Cultural Shift
The acquisition is part of a broader initiative led by Laurence des Cars to modernize the Louvre’s identity and place it in conversation with living culture. “Marlene Dumas is one of the greatest painters of our time,” des Cars said in a statement. “She defends and illustrates the medium of painting like few others, and her work is conceived as a space for bringing together different sensibilities and origins.”
The unveiling comes at a complex time for the institution, following recent security scrutiny, yet the museum proceeded with the launch as a signal of its ongoing commitment to the “Nouvelle Renaissance du Louvre” project.
About the Artist
Born in South Africa in 1953 and based in Amsterdam, Marlene Dumas is widely recognized for her psychologically charged portraiture that addresses themes of race, gender, and political history. Her entry into the Louvre places her alongside the historical giants she has long referenced in her practice, cementing her status as one of the most significant figurative painters of the 21st century.
The installation is now on permanent view in the Denon Wing of the Musée du Louvre.
Athmaja Biju is the Editor at Abir Pothi. She is a Translator and Writer working on Visual Culture.
