Focusing on former cinemas, Cheikh Ndiaye addresses the challenges of urbanisation on the African continent. By depicting a building that has since been transformed into shops, the artist questions the role of archives. The modernist structure, once a symbol of colonialism, stands at the centre of the composition beneath a clear blue sky. Its monumental presence contrasts with the disparate, humble elements in the foreground, where daily life is thriving—Coca-Cola signs and a mosque’s minaret coexist.

A key figure in the revival of figurative painting in France, Philippe Cognée often works in series based on motifs captured through photography or video. In this triptych, the structure of the Centre Pompidou building is transformed into motifs that appear to have liquefied. The artist transposes the image using encaustic, mixing pigments with beeswax as a binder. The canvas is then covered with a celluloid film and ironed with a hot iron to melt the paint.

A major figure in Soviet conceptualism, Ilya Kabakov subtly parodies the rhetoric of those in power. A codified, impersonal text, in the form of a list, outlines an urban planning project, accompanied by an image of an unfinished construction site surrounded by a field of mud. In this landscape, devoid of any human presence and marred by cranes and huts, two real shovels are roughly affixed to the canvas. In contrast to the official art of the time, this work presents itself as an ironic combination of allusive signs.

La Meute [The Horde] belongs to a series begun by Henri Cueco, a painter associated with the Narrative Figuration movement, shortly after the French student revolt of May 1968. A pack of dogs precedes a figure who adopts either a pleading or threatening posture within the cold, geometric environment of a megapolis. The low-angle viewpoint and use of perspective contribute to the narrative, amplifying the tension that emanates from this enigmatic scene. It can be interpreted as a metaphor for social relationships, driven by instinctive, destructive, and violent forces.

Cui Jie’s paintings are inspired by architectural elements observed in the megacities she has long explored: Shanghai, Beijing, and Hangzhou. Using a smooth brush, she applies the paint in layers, giving the buildings a lacquered texture. Caught between construction and demolition, the artist retraces how rapid urban transformations have shaped the worldview of her generation, born in the 1980s. The sculptures and buildings embedded within this composite composition seem to float against a bi-chromatic background, reinforcing the partly imaginary nature of the landscape.

Marcel Gromaire’s pictorial style is recognised for its limited palette, often restricted to shades of brown or grey-blue, and its solidly structured forms, frequently accentuated by a black outline. After World War II, the artist introduced the theme of landscape into his work. A trip to New York in 1950 inspired several paintings, including this view of the island of Manhattan from Rockefeller Center. The rectangle of Central Park is encircled on all sides by skyscrapers, and the triangle formed by this perspective view bristles with vertical forms.

Initially trained in architecture and painting, Walter Ruttmann was one of the first filmmakers to dedicate a full-length film to a major industrial city. Still marked by Italian Futurism, this cinematic portrait of Berlin unfolds from early morning to nightfall, mirroring the rhythm of the often-mechanical activities and movements of its inhabitants. Rather than offering a tourist’s view of the German capital, the film focuses on places of passage and transition—bridges and doors, streets, and trams.

Ugo Pozzo is emblematic of the second wave of Italian Futurism, an avant-garde movement that celebrates speed and modernity. This work captures the monumentality and verticality of urban architecture through a spectacular low-angle perspective. The façades stretch skyward, creating a vision of the modern city that is both optimistic and anxiety-inducing. At their peak, the multicoloured skyscrapers form a polygonal opening, where the artist has placed his signature.