A Truly Immense Journey ENG

Published to accompany the inaugural presentation of the Centre Pompidou collection at Kanal, A truly immense journey explores movement as a defining force in modern and contemporary art. Bringing together more than 350 works from the Centre Pompidou, Kanal, and numerous Belgian public and private collections, the publication traces a journey from the early twentieth century to the present day.

Structured around three interconnected movements, the book examines migration, exchange, and transformation through the work of artists such as Lygia Clark, Sonia Delaunay, Natalia Goncharova, Alberto Giacometti, Piet Mondrian, Henri Matisse, Wifredo Lam, Sammy Baloji, Francis Alÿs, Edith Dekyndt, and Hana Miletić. By placing historical and contemporary works in dialogue, it sheds new light on the circulation of people, ideas, and artistic forms across geographies and generations.

Inspired by the museum’s location along the Brussels–Charleroi canal and by Franz Kafka’s short story The Departure (1935), A truly immense journey considers movement as a human condition, a catalyst for cultural exchange, and an artistic strategy that continues to shape the way we see and experience the world.