To mark its 15th anniversary, the Fondation Francès has chosen to write, design, and publish a beautifully crafted book in order to preserve the memory of its history: fifteen years of choices, reflections, convictions, debates, acquisitions, and emotions.

To reflect the maturity of the collection, always built together, Estelle and Hervé Francès project into it their perspectives, intuitions, memories, and differences — always fertile. The collection thus appears as a three-way conversation: that of Estelle Francès, that of Hervé Francès, and that of the artwork itself. Each acquisition emerges from mutual agreement, sometimes through debate, always through attentive dialogue.

The publication highlights the richness and openness of the collection through around one hundred works, faithfully reflecting the vision and commitment defended by Estelle and Hervé Francès for nearly two decades. Each piece was selected not only for its artistic impact, but also for the story it carries.

XXH and the works brought together within it embody the essence of the collection and the convictions that drive it.

XXH offers an editorial experience that extends the curatorial intention of the Fondation Francès: to make art a space for sensitive confrontation and critical reflection on the human condition. Both a documentary publication and a visual object, the catalogue combines images, analytical texts, and testimonies to provide an immersive reading of the collection and the issues it explores.

The spacious and rhythmical layout gives a central place to the artworks. The reproductions, often presented full-page or double-page, encourage a direct and contemplative relationship with the image. Details, variations in scale, and photographic sequences allow readers to gradually enter into the materiality and expressive dimension of the featured works.

The reading experience is based on in-depth mediation that guides interpretation without imposing a single reading. The texts draw on references from art history, philosophy, and psychoanalysis to illuminate themes such as death, vulnerability, memory, violence, and identity.

Each artwork thus becomes an entry point into a broader reflection on the human condition and the tensions that run through contemporary societies. Through the articulation of image, analysis, and narrative, the catalogue offers a sensitive and reflective reading experience, inviting readers to explore humanity in all its contradictions and to question the excesses, fragilities, and tensions that shape our existences.