⚠️ The date displayed at the top of this event comes from the official source. The original description mentions other dates that may be outdated.
Discover this new exhibition in the hall of the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, inviting you to fully enter the engraved universe of the Danish artist, at the heart of his visual language.
With the exhibition 'Le Graveur et les sortilèges' (The Engraver and the Spells), the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève continues the dialogue initiated around the work of Lars Bo. Following 'Un Danois à Paris' (October 15 – December 17, 2025), the first exhibition dedicated to the figure of the artist and his journey through documents from his family archives, this second exhibition aims to offer a new perspective and a shift in scale. It is no longer just about exploring and illuminating a path, but fully entering the engraved universe of Lars Bo, at the core of his plastic language. Born in Kolding in 1924 and settled in Paris after the Second World War, Lars Bo made engraving much more than a means of expression: as Charles Perusseaux points out, 'for him, everything revolves around engraving, the work and atmosphere of engraving.' It becomes a territory for experimentation, a space for metamorphoses where literature, dreams, and anxiety intersect. While his name remains closely associated with the illustration of major texts, from Andersen to Gogol, passing through Nerval and Kafka, his engraved work displays a distinctly personal power. Hybrid figures, unstable architectures, mental landscapes, and ambiguous creatures compose a universe created as if by enchantment, governed by uncertain laws, where the dreamlike, the strange, and the wonderful flirt with unease. Presented here in large formats, the engravings and drawings assert their visual force and their ability to immerse the viewer in another reality. The viewer is no longer facing traces of illustration; instead, they are confronted with images that impose themselves on the gaze and captivate the imagination. 'Le Graveur et les sortilèges' thus invites a crossing: that of a universe where the precision of the line serves a poetics of disturbance, and where Lars Bo, nicknamed 'the magician,' acts as an alchemist of the image. This exhibition is part of a partnership based on the trust and generosity of Ludmilla Balfour‑Hess and Miranda Roux, daughters of Lars Bo, and Titania Hess, his granddaughter, whom we thank once again. It extends the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève's mission to examine European artistic exchanges as well as visual forms born at the intersection of the book and artistic imaginations. With 'Le Graveur et les sortilèges,' Lars Bo appears less as the Danish artist settled in Paris glimpsed in autumn 2025, and more as a creator of worlds both unique and coherent. This exhibition invites the public to be captivated by these works, to experience their narrative and symbolic power, and to measure how the art of engraving can become, under an 'enchanted hand' (to borrow the title of a short story by Gérard de Nerval illustrated by Lars Bo), an act of lasting fascination. Free entry upon reservation during the opening hours of the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève.P Discover the engraving workshop of artist Lars Bo Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève - 6 rue Valette, Paris 5e From Friday, April 17, 2026, to Saturday, July 11, 2026 For more information, a small exhibition is dedicated to the artist's studio and creative process. See the event
Source: paris.fr — photo: Lars Bo