Aristide Maillol, renowned sculptor of the early 20th century, is also a talented painter and printmaker.

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Determined to devote his life to art, the artist entered the Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1885. His first wooden sculptures, then his clay models, representing Venus or bathers, evoke archaic Greek statuary. Maillol explores various disciplines, from tapestry to sculpture. He was inspired by contemporary aesthetic debates and joined the Nabis group, thus rubbing shoulders with artists. Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard and Maurice Denis.

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Her work, characterized by full forms and developed from the study of the female nude, is distinguished by its refined simplicity. From the start, Maillol sought to create immobile sculptures and achieved perfect proportions. As a precursor of abstraction, Maillol inspired the great names of 20th century painting, like Hans Arp.

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In 1994, Dina Vierny, who was a model for the artist for a long time, inaugurated the Maillol Museum in Banyuls-sur-Mer, Maillol's birthplace, in the old farmhouse that served as his workshop. In 1995, it was also on his initiative that the Maillol Museum, where the artist's work is combined with 20th and 21th centuries art exhibitions. In 2022, a big retrospective, which is largely based on the artist's unpublished sketchbooks, is dedicated to him by the Orsay Museum.