From September 4 to 27, the Fondation Taylor presents the work of Maryam Shams, an artist whose practice bridges cultures, traditions, and epochs. Born in Tehran into a lineage steeped in poetry, she carries that heritage into her visual language, where every canvas becomes a movement toward light—or conversely, a descent from brightness into shadow. As Gilbert Laîsné, Doctor of Art and Art Sciences, observes:
“Her painting appears as a movement toward light or, inversely, as a walk from luminous clarity into sombre obscurity.”
Shams trained at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Tehran, then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, developing a practice that spans drawing, painting, lithography, and screen printing. Since 1986 she has exhibited widely, with more than 80 group shows and 20 solo exhibitions across France, the United States, Italy, Sweden, and Spain. Her works are held in both private and public collections, and she has completed major commissions, including projects for the Mairie de Paris and the Opéra Garnier.
Her paintings are often conceived as diptychs or triptychs, built through a careful balance of masses. By bringing together layers of colour and light, she seeks to transmit vibration and rhythm, a spiritual tremor inspired by nature itself. In her most recent large-scale canvases, abstract expressionism meets impressionist sensitivity, producing works that pulse with energy yet remain deeply contemplative.
Shams openly acknowledges her debts to the great masters—Van Gogh, Goya, Rembrandt—yet her style is unmistakably her own: a fusion of classical memory and modern sensibility. Each painting becomes an exploration of perception, a pursuit of the inexpressible, a dialogue between silence and radiance.
This exhibition marks her recognition by the Fondation Taylor, founded in 1844 by Baron Taylor and today one of France’s leading institutions in support of artists. Dedicated to defending artistic creation and transmitting knowledge of the arts, the foundation sustains painters, sculptors, engravers, and draftsmen through exhibitions, grants, and prizes. Its independence and longevity are the guarantee of its necessity.
In the current exhibition, Shams’s luminous canvases are shown in dialogue with the contemplative drawings of Eric Sala, the enigmatic figures of Tomas Scherer, and the pointillist works of Sophie Trividic. Together, these works resonate as a polyphony of contemporary creation, while Shams’s paintings stand out for their ability to convey light as substance, rhythm as form, and nature as spirit.
The opening will take place on September 4, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Fondation Taylor, Paris.
A.M.Ivancenco
