MIRA ART FAIR 2026: Agustín Cárdenas & Francisco Sobrino: Two Languages of Form

For its first participation in MIRA, Mitterrand presents, in collaboration with the Estates of Agustín Cárdenas and Francisco Sobrino, a dialogue between two artists whose paths intersected in Paris during the second half of the 1950s. The sensuality of Cárdenas’s organic forms meets the rigour of Sobrino’s geometric constructions, revealing two distinct approaches to form, movement and perception.

Born in Cuba, Agustín Cárdenas moved to Paris in 1955, where he joined André Breton’s Surrealist circle. There, he developed a distinctive sculptural language informed by the metamorphosis of the body and an organic imagination. Francisco Sobrino, born in Spain and trained in Buenos Aires, arrived in Paris in 1959. His explorations of geometric abstraction and optical phenomena led him to co-found the Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV), alongside artists including François Morellet.

Bringing together sculptures, paintings and works on paper created from the 1950s through subsequent decades, this presentation highlights two artistic practices that, despite their aesthetic differences, share a desire to redefine the experience of form and perception. Between sculptural presence and optical instability, the works of Cárdenas and Sobrino reflect the richness of the artistic exchanges that shaped the post-war Parisian art scene.