The Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco is taking the work of Simone Fattal to an international stage, presenting a major outdoor installation at the Museo Jumex in Mexico City. The exhibition features monumental bronze sculptures by the artist, winner of the XLIX International Prize for Contemporary Art, and will be on view from Tuesday, February 3 to Sunday, March 1, 2026.
Installed on the esplanade of the Museo Jumex during Mexico City’s art week, the presentation brings together three large-scale works, including Adam and Eve (2021) and Door (2024). The sculptures invite reflection on memory, the human body and myth, themes that have long shaped Fattal’s practice and place her work at the crossroads of ancient forms and contemporary concerns.
Awarded to Fattal in October 2025 at a ceremony held at the Opéra Garnier in Monte-Carlo, the International Prize for Contemporary Art recognised her work Sempre il mare, uomo libero, amerai! (2023). The prize, endowed with €75,000, is awarded every three years and is decided by an artistic council chaired by Princess of Hanover, with each council member drawing on international experts to nominate significant recent works.
Since 2013, the Foundation has chosen to present each prize winner outside the Principality as part of a major international event. For the 2025 edition, Mexico City was selected as the host location, underscoring the Foundation’s ambition to position Monaco’s contemporary art prize within a global dialogue.
Born in Damascus in 1942, Simone Fattal is widely regarded as one of the leading voices in contemporary art today. Her multidisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture, collage, writing and publishing, and draws equally on history, mythology and the realities of the modern world. After leaving Lebanon during the civil war, she settled in California in the 1980s, where she founded the independent Post-Apollo Press, known for its support of poetry and experimental literature, notably the work of Etel Adnan. It was during this period that Fattal began working with clay, a medium that has remained central to her sculptural language.
Lebanese curator Christine Tohme, who proposed Fattal’s candidacy for the prize, has highlighted the relevance of her work in understanding today’s social, political and ecological realities. Fattal’s sculptures, often figurative yet timeless, evoke movement and presence rather than static form, a quality that has become a hallmark of her work.
Founded in 1966 by Prince Rainier III in tribute to his father, Prince Pierre, the Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco has long played a central role in supporting contemporary creation. Today, under the presidency of the Princess of Hanover, it continues to promote literature, music and visual arts through a range of prestigious prizes awarded by its literary, musical and artistic councils.
