Figures of the madman

"Infinite is the number of fools" Ecclesiastes, chapter I, 15 In the beginning was the "fool", a poor fool devoid of wisdom who turns away from God. Relegated to the margins, it left the religious sphere during the Middle Ages to flourish in the profane world and become in turn the one who entertains, warns, denounces, reverses values, even overturns the established order. Recognizable by its emblematic attributes - hood with donkey ears or cockscomb, bells, little bells, hobby horse, colorful costume - this figure evolves over the centuries and is embodied in multiple avatars: court jesters, madmen in love or buffoons then invade the entire Western artistic space. From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance and up to the modern era, a journey exceptional in the art of Northern Europe brings together here nearly 350 works as well diverse as the characters they depict: illuminated manuscripts, printed books, engravings, tapestries, sculptures, precious objects or daily life and paintings by famous artists, such as Bosch, Bruegel, Géricault, Courbet... Under the expert gaze of the greatest specialists, this work offers us invites us to reflect on what the norm preserves as well as what it rejects. It proposes to reconsider some major articulations of history and the history of art, in the light of this figure who crystallizes the concerns and passions. A dive into a world of madness that brings us back to ourselves and our relationship with the Other.