• Renault Group kondigt de oprichting aan van een nieuw fonds om zijn kunstcollectie te onderhouden en hedendaagse creaties te ondersteunen.
• Dit initiatief weerspiegelt de ambitie van Renault Group om kunst en industrie met elkaar te verbinden en een culturele band te creëren die zowel toegankelijk als vernieuwend is.
• Het is de ambitie van Renault Group om een unieke collectie met Street art op te bouwen die een afspiegeling moet zijn van het bedrijf: internationaal, maar met nauwe banden met Frankrijk. De collectie zal bestaan uit aangekochte werken, speciale opdrachten en initiatieven om de artistieke cultuur van Street art te verspreiden.
• De eerste opdracht is gegeven aan een Street art-kunstenaar. Hij heeft zijn werk gemaakt in de Ampere ElectriCity-fabriek in Douai. Het kunstwerk wordt op 15 juni 2024 in Parijs onthuld, tegelijk met een aantal gerestaureerde werken uit de historische collectie.

Renault Group richt zich volop op de toekomst, maar vind het tegelijkertijd belangrijk dat het zijn historische waarden en tradities niet uit het oog verliest. Eén daarvan is het feit dat de Group altijd heeft gestreefd naar het slaan van bruggen tussen de kunstwereld en de industrie. Daarom kondigt de Renault Group de oprichting aan van een fonds voor cultuur, kunst en erfgoed. Met dit fonds kan de Group niet alleen zijn bestaande collectie conserveren en beschermen, maar ook uitbreiden met nieuw hedendaags werk.

MAINTAINING THE “SPIRIT” OF THE HISTORIC COLLECTION AND KEEPING IT SAFE

Throughout its history, Renault has commissioned works from artists. These creators were frequently ahead of their times, with bold artistic practices that were not recognised by museums.

Initiated a century ago, Renault’s Art Collection comprises several hundred works, including many large formats and ensembles. It is particularly representative of the following trends:

• Humanist photography, particularly by Robert Doisneau, a full-time employee of the company between 1934 and 1939,
• New Realism, founded in 1960, a movement whose followers included sculptors Arman and Jean Tinguely, who used everyday materials in their works,
• Narrative Figuration, represented mainly by Erró, whose works mix images from pop culture and the history of art,
• Op Art, branch of geometric abstraction producing an illusion of vibration or movement, represented primarily by Victor Vasarely, who redesigned Renault’s logo in 1972,
• Jean Dubuffet, painter, sculptor, and inventor of Art Brut: spontaneous and inventive creation by self-taught artists and outsiders.

These artists set out to make artistic creation part of everyday life. They wanted their art to reach the widest possible audience, rather than being reserved for an elite. They tended to produce works in multiple editions or on an urban scale.

In order to make this art a living collection, to restore it and – above all – to make it available to the general public, Renault Group is selling a small number of art works. The sale will involve only works that are not representative of the brand’s history, accounting for less than 10% of the collection’s value. All proceeds will be donated to the Endowment Fund. The sale will establish a link between the different eras and the works in the collection, since all the remaining works from the historic collection will become part of the Endowment Fund.

THE ENDOWMENT FUND WILL INVEST IN STREET ART 

Remaining true to its history and its commitments, the company is beginning a new chapter in its artistic journey by supporting Street art. In this way, it is nurturing the spirit of creativity and innovation that has always been its hallmark,

“Like Street art, Renault Group is present on the street. As well as sharing a space, they share a number of values. Both are creative, popular, ingenious and ready for a challenge,” explains Catherine Gros, VP Art, Heritage & Philanthropy. 

Sometimes overlooked by art institutions, Street art has yet to gain widespread recognition. It is popular primarily with younger generations, and embodied by self-taught figures who are willing to take risks. As an art form, it is a contemporary response to Renault’s original artistic ambitions, and its support for pop art and kinetic art  in the 1960s. The Street art movement brings art to the streets, making it available to everyone. In this way too, it echoes the purpose of a vehicle manufacturer, whose production also ‘lives’ on the street.

Already in 2023, the Group celebrated a number of key anniversaries in Street art. For example, it supported the retrospective exhibition celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Éphémères series by pioneering artist Gérard Zlotykamien, and the 40th anniversary of Jérôme Mesnager’s Corps Blanc (man in white) series, in which the artist was invited to work directly on the facades of Renault’s historic building in Boulogne-Billancourt.

The Group announced another major event in spring of this year, when it commissioned British street artist Dan Rawlings to set up his studio inside the Ampere ElectriCity plant in Douai and turn the new R5 E-Tech electric pop icon into a work of art. His work will be on show at the pop-up exhibition in MAISON5 in Paris from 15 June. With this bold move, a car that is not yet on the market is already taking up a place in history. Future acquisitions will continue to support both emerging and established artists.

For the first time in several decades, the public will be able to see all the works produced by Erró as part of the original collaboration between the brand and the artist, on the theme of the historic Renault 5 (1972 – 1984) and the Supercinq (1984 – 1996).

Erró is one of the artists best represented in the Renault Art Collection, with two watercolours, six canvases and 61 collages. Born in Ólafsvík, Iceland, in 1932, Erró has lived in Paris since 1958. He is one of the leading exponents of Narrative Figuration, a version of Pop Art that is eminently French in its political and critical approach.

Through its support for Street art, the Group will expand the collection held by the new Endowment Fund, while remaining true to the original idea behind Renault’s Art Collection: to support emerging talent and place it at the service of everybody at Renault and its wider community.