‘I believe in pain’, once wrote Rouault, “it is not a fiction for me: this is my only merit. I was born to be so macabre”. The exhibition, which has been made possible by the generous assistance of the artist’s daugh-ter, Isabelle, owner of the works on display, presents the 58 etchings (65×50 cm.) of the series “Miserere”, considered to be the most in-tense and significant testimony of the great artist. The major part or the subjects, in the form of pen and ink sketches, was conceived in the period following 1914, in the tragic years of the Great War. Subsequently, on the instigation of Ambrogio Vollard, Rouault reprodu-ced his sketches on large copper plates and started the work of incision using all the technical means at his disposal (1917-1927). The printing, closely supervised by the artist, was terminated in 1927; and after twenty years, the “Miserere” was finally published in Paris in 1948. In the work, Rouault proclaims with great force his accusation and his pain for disfi-gured and downtrodden Man; but the guilt and misery of manking is embraced in an infinite mercy, illuminated by the Redemption and by the Cross of Christ. Rouault was born in Paris in 1871 and died there in February 1958, and is one of the greatest protagonists of contemporary art.’