Exhibition Catalogue for "Brion Gysin: Le dernier musée" (2026)

 

Paris, France: Éditions Paris Musées (exhibition catalogue), 2026.
11.75" x 9" x 0.875", 200 pages, softcover with die-cut overlay, ISBN 978-2-7596-0639-9.

The catalogue of the exhibition Brion Gysin: Le dernier musée, held at the Musée d'Art moderne de Paris between 10 April and 12 July 2026, curated by Olivier Weil with Hélène Leroy. This book is a retrospective of the creative works of Brion Gysin, with examples from his many stages of art-making and cultural exploration. Foreword by Fabrice Hergott, director of the Musée d'Art moderne de Paris. This contains essays by Oliver Weil with Hélène Leroy, Brice Matthieussent, Barry Miles, James Horton, Olivier Quintyn, Nathalie Heidsieck, and an interview with Marc Hurtado.

This book is organized into a section containing the essays, followed by the named sections exploring Gysin's art: "Rêver" [Dream], "Voyager" [Travel], "Permuter" [Permute], "Écrire/dessiner" [write/draw], "Jouer" [Play], "Ensorceler" [Enchant], and "Révéler" [Reveal]. This additionally includes a chronology, list of exhibited works, and a bibliography.

William S. Burroughs shows up in this catalogue, as well as a number of other artists. A quote from a letter from William S. Burroughs to Allen Ginsberg is on the rear cover. There are reproductions of some of the Burroughs/Gysin The Third Mind works, as well as photographs of Burroughs [and Gysin] by Louis Jammes. A reproduction of the cover of the 1960 Two Cities edition of Minutes to Go is on page 23.

This copy of the catalogue was received from James Pennington of Aloes Books, who attended the event and pulled together several materials from the exhibition for me, for which I am deeply grateful.

Contents: 

• Fabrice Hergott: foreword
• Louis Jammes: "Portrait de Brion Gysin" (photograph, 1986)
• Olivier Weil and Hélène Leroy: "Brion Gysin à nouveau" (introduction)
• François Lagarde: photograph of Maurice Benhamou, Brion Gysin, Steve Lacy, Allen Ginsberg, John Giorno, Bernard Heidsieck, and Gérard-Georges Lemaire, Paris 1976
• Brion Gysin: "Notre-Dame" (mixed media on paper, 1974)
• Antony Balch: still from The Cut-Ups, 1967
• Brice Matthieussent: "Grille, cutter, rouleau, machines" (essay)
• Brion Gysin: 
• "Les Chants de Marrakech" (painting on paper, 1959)
• "Le Dernier Musée" (mixed media on paper, 1977)
• François Lagarde: photograph of Brion Gysin in front of Popping Out of Windows", 1973
• Barry Miles: "Brion Gysin et la Beat Generation" (essay)
• Loomis Dean: photograph of William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin at the Beat Hotel, Paris, October 1959
• Sinclair Beiles, William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, and Brion Gysin: cover of the Two Cities Edition of Minutes To Go, Paris, 1960
• Terry Wilson: "The Gysin Level" (collage, 2013)
• James Horton: "Brion Gysin et le cut-up dans le champ des avant-gardes" (essay)
• Carl Van Vechten: photographic portrait of Brion Gysin, 1957
• Brion Gysin: 
• "Autoportrait" (photowork, 1961)
• "Autoportrait" (photowork, 1961)
• "Autoportrait" (photowork, 1980)
• Olivier Quintyn: "La poésie de Brion Gysin et les avant-gardes"
• Brion Gysin: 
• "Autoportrait" (photowork, 1961)
• "Autoportrait" (photowork, 1961)
• "Autoportrait" (photowork, 1961)
• "Autoportrait" (photowork, 1961)
• Nathalie Heidsieck: "Alamût. Voyage en Perse, août 1973" (essay)
• Brion Gysin and Lawrence Lacina: discussion on Alamût from Warten, issue 2, 1991
• Lawrence Lacina: "Voyage en Perse" (journal reproductions)
• Françoise Janicot: photograph of Steve Lacy and Brion Gysin at the second International Poetry Festival in Rome, 1980. 
• Olivier Weil and Marc Hurtado: "Brion Gysin et l'univers musical" (interview)
• unstated: photograph of Brion Gysin at Jajouka with the musicians, 1970s
• unstated: photograph of the Master Musicians of Jajouka at Brion Gysin's 1001 Nights in Tangier, 1950s
• unstated: photograph of Ramuntcho Matta and Brion Gysin in concert, n.d.
• "Rêver":
• Brion Gysin:
• "Signe dans le paysage" (drawing on paper, 1935)
• "Les Deux Faux Interlocuteurs" (drawing on paper, 1935)
• "Écrit dans le paysage" (drawing on paper, 1935)
• "Secrets du sexe d'un chemin de fer" (drawing on paper, 1935)
• "The Key of the Dreams" (oil on panel, 1938)
• "Sans titre" (oil on canvas, 1937)
• "Sans titre" (gravure, 1935)
• Réne Bertelé and Brion Gysin: "Le Jugement du vent" (drawing, 1936)
• Brion Gysin: 
• "Sans titre" (painting on cardboard, 1941)
• "Sans titre" (painting on paper, 1941)
• Óscar Dominguez and Marcel Jean: "Sans titre" (décalcomania, 1936)
• Brion Gysin: "Sans titre" (painting on cardboard, 1941)
• Victor Hugo: 
• "Tache (or Tête de caractère)" (painting on paper, 1869)
• "Tach dentelle" (painting on paper, 1855–1856)
• Brion Gysin: "Psylocibes" (oil on canvas, 1959)
• Henri Michaux: "Sans titre" (oil on panel, 1955)
• Brion Gysin: 
• "Dreamachine" (sculpture, 1979)
• "Dreamachine (study)" (drawing on paper, 1961)
• "Dreamachine (cylinder)" (painted metallic cardboard, 1961–1963)
• "Cylindre pour la Dreamachine" (perforated metallic cardboard, 1964)
• "Cylindre pour la Dreamachine" (painted paper, 1979)
• "Dreamachine" (stenciled paint on paper, 1979)
• "Pochoir pour dessins Dreamachine" (perforated paper, 1979)
• "Dreamachine" (stenciled paint on paper, 1979)
• "Dreamachine" (stenciled paint on paper, 1979)
• "Dreamachine" (black paint on paper, 1979)
• Philippe Decrauzat: "The Shooting" (acrylic on canvas, 2006)
• Nicolas Tikhomiroff: photograph of Brion Gysin with the Dreamachine, 1960
• Charles Gatewood: Brion Gysin behind the Dreamachine, 1960s
• Nicolas Tikhomiroff: photograph of Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville, 1962
• Harold Chapman: photograph of Brion Gysin and the Dreamachine, 1962
• Brion Gysin: "Carton préparé pour la Dreamachine" (paint on paper, 1979)
• "Voyager":
• Brion Gysin:
• "Sans titre (Sahara)" (oil on canvas, 1959)
• "Sheltering Sky (Sahara)" (oil on canvas, 1958)
• "Atomic Desert" (oil on canvas, 1958)
• "Mirage du matin, Sahara" (oil on canvas, 1958)
• Mark Tobey: "Pierced Space" (tempera and incisions on cardboard, 1959)
• René Laubiès: "Signe" (oil on paper mounted on card, 1953)
• Brion Gysin:
• "Where Is He Going?" (ink and watercolor on paper, 1952)
• "Kasbah" (watercolor and gouache on paper, 1967)
• "Sans titre" (ink and paint on paper, 1954)
• "Bicycle market on Friday, Marrakech" (paint and ink on paper, 1954)
• Mohamed Hamri: 
• "La Clé de Sanaa" (oil on canvas, 1992)
• "Les Femmes voilées" (watercolor on paper, 1952)
• Brion Gysin: 
• "Sans titre" (lithograph, n.d.)
• "Sahara" (lithograph, 1958)
• "Sahara" (lithograph, 1958)
• "Sahara" (lithograph, 1958)
• "My Window at Peggy Guggenheim's Palazzo (série)" (six ink and paint works on paper, 1962)
• "Permuter":
• Brion Gysin:
• "Brion Gysin Brings Big Gongs" (collage of four roller poem photocopies, 1977)
• "Luna Park" (ink and paint on paper, 1982)
• William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin" (scrapbook collage and manuscript, c.1965)
• Brion Gysin: "The Third Mind" (mixed media on paper, 1976)
• François Lagarde: "The Three Minds" (photographic triptych, 1978)
• Brion Gysin: 
• "Ensemble de 4 dessins permutés" (ink and gouache on paper on card, 1959-1961)
• "Permutations" (ink on paper, 1959)
• "Permutation I, II, III, IV" (oil on canvas, 1959)
• "Eight Units of a Permutated Picture":
• "Word Burst in Numbered World" (acrylic on canvas, 1961)
• "Word-Flow in the Theatre of Numbered Space" (acrylic on canvas, 1961)
• "Golden Chariot of Ordered Word" (acrylic on canvas, 1961)
• "Words Seeded Over Cities in the Sand" (acrylic on canvas, 1961)
• "Permutation I Am That I Am" (acrylic on canvas, 1961)
• "Jade Mirror of Magnetic Memory" (acrylic on canvas, 1961)
• "Word Made Grass-Machine" (acrylic on canvas, 1961)
• "Star of the Dreamachine" (acrylic on canvas, 1961)
• "Écrire":
• Brion Gysin: 
• "Les Chansons de Marrakech" (ink on paper, 1959)
• "Mektoub" (ink on paper, 1959)
• "Sans titre" (ink on paper, 1959)
• William S. Burroughs: "Lettre à Brion Gysin" (ink on paper [on part of a My Own Mag issue], 1960)
• Brion Gysin: 
• "Garden IV — Rustique Olivette, La Ciotat" (oil on canvas, 1959)
• "Ivy" (oil on canvas, 1959)
• Mark Tobey: "Black and Orange with White Lines" (tempera on paper, 1960)
• Brion Gysin: "Fenestration d'Iris Clert" (gouache on canvas, 1961)
• Etel Adnan: "Fadihat Al-Tha'lab [Le Scandale du renard]" (watercolor and ink on paper, 1998)
• Roland Barthes: "Sans titre" (pastel on paper, 1975)
• Henri Michaux: "Sans titre" (acrylic on paper, 1971)
• Christian Dotremont: "Pas de nouvelles de Gloria" (ink on paper, 1975)
• Bernard Réquichot: "Conclusion pour une philosophie de l'art" (ink on paper, 1961)
• Brion Gysin: "Cuts d'écriture arabe collés sur une page d'écriture japonaise" (photocopy, 1943/1988)
• Nicolas Aiello: "9 avril 2013 (L'Humanité)" (ink on paper, 2018)
• Carl Andre: "SumToil" (ink and pastel on paper, 1965)
• René Laubiès: "Signe" (ink on paper, 1954)
• Jean Degottex: "IBN II 01.08.1962" (ink on paper, 1962)
• Brion Gysin: 
• "Calligraffiti of Fire" (oil on canvas, 1985)
• "Untitled (Naked Lunch)" (ink and paint on paper, 1964)
• Julie Mehretu: "Among the Multitude X" (ink and acrylic on canvas, 2021–2022)
• "Jouer":
• Brion Gysin:
• "Sans titre" (gouache on paper on canvas, 1961)
• "Autoportraits" (photoworks, 1961, multiple)
• "Ensorceler":
• Louis Jammes: six photographs of Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs, 1985
• Brion Gysin: "Pals Popping Out of Windows" (ink and collage on paper, 1974–1975)
• John Giorno: "YOU GOT TO BURN TO SHINE" (serigraph, 2017)
• Keith Haring: "Hommage à Brion Gysin" (ink on paper, 1986)
• John Giorno: "Dial-a-Poem" (telephone and 200 poems by 80 poets, 1968/2012)
• Laurie Anderson: "Windbook" (manuscript book in box with fans, 1974)
• "Révéler":
• Brion Gysin: 
• "Le Dernier Musée" (series of 10 photographs, 1977)
• "Notre-Dame de la place Saint-Michel" (ink and gouache with collage of photographs on paper, 1974)
• "Self-Portrait Jumping" (ink and photograph on paper, 1977)
• "Rouleau de carrés peints pour la Dreamachine" (ink and paint on paper, 1979)
• "Le Dernier Musée" (ink and photograph on paper, 1977)
• "Beaubourg, Ensemble-81" (photographs, 1974–1976)
• "Sans titre" (photograph, 1978)
• "Beaubourg" (ink and photographs on paper, 1975)
• "Le Dernier Musée" (ink and gouache with photographs on paper, 1977)
• "Diapositives grattées et poèmes visuels photographiés" (scratched negatives, c.1976)
• Chronology
• unstated: photograph of the Master Musicians of Jajouka, Morocco, n.d.
• Mohamed Hamri: "Portrait of Brion Gysin" (ink on paper, 1960s)
• Loomis Dean: photograph of William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin at the Beat Hotel, Paris, October 1959
• Christian Taillandier: photograph of Brion Gysin at the Paris Biennial painting in October 1963
• François Lagarde: photograph of Brion Gysin with the Dreamachine, 1974
• Udo Breger: photograph of Brion Gysin at his apartment window, Paris, n.d.
• Tony Kent: photograph of Brion Gysin at home, Paris, n.d.
• Udo Breger: photograph of Brion Gysin, Davé, and Maurice Benhamou at Calligraffiti of Fire exhibition, Paris, rue Quincampoix, 1985 
• unstated: photograph of Brion Gysin at his rue St. Martin apartment, n.d.
• List of Exhibited Works
• Bibliography
• Ian Sommerville: "Dreamachine avec chat" (photograph, n.d.)
• Credits

Credits: 

• Paris Musées:
• Musée d'Art moderne de Paris:
• Director: Fabrice Hergott
• General Secretary: Laurie Szulc
• Deputy General Secretary: Christophe de la Llave
• Registrar's Office:
• Manager: Claire Böhm
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• Assistant Manager, Health and Safety: Wissam Assaf
• Technical Registrar of Exhibitions: Alexis Masurelle
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• Painting: Alfred Paramesvarene, Mihai Mirza
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• Manager: Annabelle Constant
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• et al
• Ticketing:
• Manager: Kirill Tesle
• et al
• et al
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• Director: Julie Bertrand
• Exhibitions:
• Department Head: Julie Pierrat
• Project Manager: Elise Kerschenbaum
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• City of Paris Museums:
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• Deputy Director and Department Head: Muriel Rausch
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• Director: Patricia Creveaux
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• Department Head: Marie Bauer
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• Department Head: Jean-Pascal Marron
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• Department Head: Anne-Claude d'Argent
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• Department Head: Frédérique Leseur
• Head of Outreach Projects: Raffaela Russo-Ricci
• Administration and Finance:
• Director: Laurence Garric
• et al
• Paris Musées Editions:
• Director of Exhibitions and Publications: Julie Bertrand
• Deputy Director, Head of Publications: Muriel Rausch
• Editorial Coordination: Adeline Souverain
• Translation from English: Catherine Marcangeli
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• Production: Marine Gregory
• Graphic Design: Atelier Pentagon, Vanessa Goetz, Guillaume Allard