Jeff Koons: ‘Venus’ Lespugue

The exhibition narrative begins in deep prehistory.

Between approximately 42,000 and 20,000 years ago, Paleolithic communities across Eurasia – from the Iberian Peninsula to Central Europe and Central Asia – created small female figurines in ivory, limestone, and clay. Today known as Paleolithic “Venuses,” these objects represent some of the earliest surviving examples of sculptural representation in human history.

Except for “Venus of Lespugue” from the Muséum Νational d’Histoire Νaturelle in Paris, the exhibition brings together a constellation of nine such figures, revealing a shared visual vocabulary that appears across great geographical distances.

For these “Venuses”, the Museum collaborated with the following institutions: Moravské zemské museum (Moravian Museum), Brno, Czech Republic; Musée d’Archéologie nationale, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France; Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Taranto (MArTA), Italy; Museo delle Civiltà, Rome, Italy; Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, Musée de l’Homme, Paris, France; and Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna, Austria.

The journey begins with the “Venus of Lespugue”, discovered in the Rideaux Cave in southern France and carved from mammoth ivory. Its exaggerated abdomen, pronounced hips, and prominent breasts embody a formal language emphasizing fertility, corporeality, and the generative force of the body. Nearby appear the “Venuses of Grimaldi”, discovered in the Balzi Rossi caves on the Franco-Italian border, which offer a more elongated interpretation of the female form.

From Italy also comes the “Venus of Savignano”, a striking stone sculpture whose abstraction lends it a powerful sculptural presence, while Central Europe is represented by the “Venus of Dolní Věstonice”, among the earliest known ceramic sculptures in human history. The journey continues with the celebrated “Venus of Willendorf” from Austria – one of the most recognizable icons of prehistoric art – and concludes with the two “Venuses of Parabita” from southern Italy.

Despite the distances separating their places of discovery, these figurines share notable characteristics: small scale, pronounced emphasis on reproductive features, and a striking degree of abstraction in the rendering of the face and limbs.

Ιn the exhibition, “Venus” figurines represent one of humanity’s earliest aesthetic codes. At the end of this journey into the prehistoric world, the work of Jeff Koons appears. Koons’ “Venus” revisits this prehistoric visual language through a radically different medium and context: the industrial, hyper-material world of the 21st century.

Through the reflective surface of Balloon Venus Lespugue (Orange), visitors are invited to explore how material transformation alters or preserves symbolic meaning, and how contemporary art might help us reconnect to ancient aspects of human experience. Balloon Venus Lespugue (Orange) translates the small Paleolithic figure into a monumental sculptural presence made of reflective stainless-steel. Its polished surface mirrors the surrounding space and the viewer, turning the act of seeing into an active participatory experience.

The exhibition also includes original sketches by Jeff Koons for the creation of the Balloon Venus Lespugue series, as well as a short video produced by the Museum of Cycladic Art in which the artist discusses his work.

The exhibition is accompanied by a scholarly catalogue featuring essays by Jeff Koons and leading international researchers on Paleolithic figurines and their enduring relevance in the history of art.

One of the most recognizable of contemporary artists, Jeff Koons (b. 1955, York, Pennsylvania) is known for challenging the boundaries of art. He transforms everyday images and objects into works that engage the viewer in a dialogue between the modern era and the past. Since his first solo exhibition in 1980, his work has been displayed in museums and cultural institutions around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Tate Gallery (London), the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), Centre Pompidou (Paris), and Guggenheim Bilbao (Bilbao).

Jeff Koons is widely known for his iconic sculptures Rabbit and Balloon Dog as well as his monumental floral works Puppy and Split-Rocker. Working with everyday objects, his work revolves around themes of self-acceptance and transcendence.

Koons lives and works in New York City.

About the Homem Sonnabend Collection

The Homem Sonnabend Collection constitutes the private holdings of Antonio Homem Sonnabend and Phokion Potamianos Homem. The collection embraces works of the Renaissance in dialogue with significant examples of African and Oceanic art, and early 20th century decorative arts, while also foregrounding seminal figures of postwar and contemporary practice—from Pop Art to Arte Povera—as well as works dating from the 1980s and 1990s.

Encompassing a wide range of media, including photography, sculpture, and painting, the collection brings together works by artists such as Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Mario Schifano, Lucio Fontana, Jannis Kounellis, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Jeff Koons, among others.

Cover Photo
Jeff Koons with Balloon Venus Lespugue (Orange) in production, 2019
© Jeff Koons