Marlene Dumas becomes first contemporary woman artist to join Louvre's permanent collection

"My faces are a mixture of the past and the present. I cannot paint the horrors of the ongoing genocides of our times directly, but their shadows did affect the mood under which these faces were made. Portraiture deals with likeness and the recognition of people known. Faces deal with the nameless. They include those dehumanised, like fugitives, branded as aliens."

"She defends and illustrates the medium of painting like few others, and her work is conceived as a space for bringing together different sensibilities and origins. That is exactly what we aimed for to do with this redesigned space."

"I cannot predict the average reactions of viewers, as each carries their own personal burdens and baggage of experience with them. And for me, this is also not familiar ground, to make paintings this large and hang them this high. Intimacy fits me better."

Marlene Dumas, South African-born, has joined the Louvre's permanent collection with nine new site-specific paintings unveiled in the Porte des Lions atrium and the Paintings galleries. The series, titled Liaisons, depicts faces influenced by the horrors of the contemporary world; some are more abstract, others more gestural, and some retain traces of drawing. The works blend past and present, carry the shadows of ongoing genocides, confront likeness versus the nameless, and include dehumanised figures such as fugitives branded as aliens. The museum framed the commission as a defence of painting and a space to bring together different sensibilities. The artist acknowledged unfamiliarity with very large, high-hung formats and anticipated varied viewer reactions.

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