An Underground Desire

The artist’s practice has long been shaped by his experience of caves and by the mystery of how forms emerge in these depths: those fashioned by geological phenomena – exuberant sculptures bearing witness to a time beyond human scale – and those of cave paintings, traced by our ancestors in the flickering glow of a flame.

Inspired by these ancestral remains, Lionel Sabatté has created a body of work for which he has developed new techniques, sensitive echoes of the Quercy region: drawing with sheep’s wool, tapestry enhanced with walnut stain, and engraving on blocks of limestone. The result is a hybrid bestiary in which elusive creatures rub shoulders with anthropomorphic figures, as if driven by an underground desire that seems to set the material in motion.

At the heart of the exhibition, a unique dialogue unfolds with the work of the Spanish master Francisco de Goya, thanks to the exceptional loan of a series of engravings from the Goya Museum, which will host an exhibition of Lionel Sabatté’s work in 2027.

The exhibition An Underground Desire [Un Désir souterrain] runs in Saint-Cirq-Lapopie until 30 August at the Maisons Daura and in Cajarc until 1 November at the Maison des arts. It also extends to the Pech Merle Prehistory Centre, with the presentation of a sculpture, installed outdoors and inspired by the artist’s visits to the cave.

In partnership with Les Abattoirs, Museum – Frac Occitanie Toulouse.
In collaboration with the Goya Museum, Castres, and the Pech Merle Prehistory Centre, Cabrerets.
With the support of Occitanie Pierres.