François Morellet (1926-2016) is considered one of the major figures of geometrical abstraction over the past half century, a pioneer of minimal art. An internationally recognized artist since the 1970s, he is the creator of many private and public commissions both in France and abroad, such as the permanent installation L'Esprit d'escalier, realized in the Lefuel Staircase of the Musée du Louvre in 2010.
His work has been exhibited in many venues, including the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Musée d'Orsay, the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Center for Fine Arts in Brussels, the S.M.A.K. in Ghent, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Mamco in Geneva, Documenta in Kassel, the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the Staatliche Kunsthalle in Baden-Baden, the Museum Ritter in Waldenbuch, Modern Art Oxford, the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal, the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the Mi mi Arts Museum, and the MoMA in New York.