What if art could reconcile us with our most intimate and fragile selves? At the crossroads of art and medicine, the Vulnérablesexhibition takes up residence in the majestic Saint-Louis chapel of thePitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, from June 24 to September 21, 2025. Spearheaded by child psychiatrist and artist David Cohen, the event brings together some thirty contemporary artists, including Jean Dubuffet, Johan Creten, Michel Nedjar and Liz Magic Laser. Paintings, videos, interactive installations and sculptures interact with the venue's solemn architecture to explore forms of vulnerability - physical, mental or social.
The title, Vulnérables, is an obvious choice for this former place of confinement for marginalized women, now a sanctuary for human frailty. It takes on its full meaning in a year 2025 marked by mental health being declared a major national cause and by the commemoration of the bicentenary of Jean-Martin Charcot, the founding figure of modern psychiatry.
Theexhibition stands out for its focus onart brut, a form of expression born on the margins, often in the midst of confinement or suffering. It resonates with hospital history, with patients creating in spite of their isolation, and with emblematic figures such as Bispo do Rosário. David Cohen describes it as " an exhibition at the crossroads of medicine, art history and contemporary plastic art ", conceived as a fertile dialogue between established artists, heritage architecture and social commitment.
This project is also an opportunity to breathe new life into the Saint-Louis chapel, a site still little known to the general public, but already visited by 30,000 cultural visitors in 2024. Theexhibition is part of a wider project to make the site a lasting space for the union of culture and health.
There's also a great line-up of events:
Concert TRIO INGRES - at 5 p.m.
International workshop with five performances - 6 to 8 p.m.
Concert in tribute to Yehudi Menuhin - at 7 p.m.
Vulnérables is a profound reflection on the human condition. Vulnerability is seen as a source and a driving force, not a weakness. The artist's creative gesture embodies this assumed flaw, this openness to the other and to the unpredictable. " Vulnerability is our life's most constant companion," reads one of the exhibition texts.
Far from a simple exhibition, Vulnerable is a call to rethink our relationship with fragility, solidarity and creation. In hospitals and in society at large, it invites us to engage in a sensitive and profound dialogue, where culture becomes care, and art sheds light on what resists and trembles within us. All you have to do is visit us!
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Dates and Opening Time
From June 24, 2025 to September 21, 2025
Location
Grande chapelle Saint-Louis
47-83 Boulevard de l'Hôpital
75013 Paris 13
Access
Metro line 5 "Saint-Marcel" station
Prices
Free
Official website
pitiesalpetriere.aphp.fr
