Eleven major artists from the international contemporary scene present, in the spaces of the museum that they have chosen, works largely created especially for the Louvre: Luciano Fabro, Claudio Parmiggiani and Giuseppe Penone, leading figures in Arte Povera; Richard Deacon, Robert Morris and Anish Kapoor, key figures in English and American sculpture; Elisabeth Ballet, Gloria Friedmann, Didier Trenet, Michel Verjux and Jacques Vieille, active representatives of the French revival.

The choice of this department was made for various reasons: the specificity of certain architectural spaces - such as the Cour Marly or the Cour Puget - whose dimensions allow the presentation of monumental works; the desire to encourage the public to discover the unique collection of French, Italian and German sculptures from the Middle Ages to the 19th century; and the desire to show the permanence of certain practices and themes in contemporary sculpture. Indeed, sculpture has evolved considerably over the course of the 20th century: while some artists explore new fields (light, installation, film) and use new materials (resin, plastic, aluminium), others continue to work in plaster, wood or stone, but in a completely different formal and iconographic register.

"Counterpoint III" invites the viewer to re-read old sculptures in a new encounter with the works of the present.