Tout corps plongé

Tout corps plongé – Nicolas Monjo’s Sensory Immersion

With Tout corps plongé, Nicolas Monjo delivers an artwork that is both intimate and explosive, blending humor with reflection, and social satire with tenderness. Painted in acrylic and oil on canvas (40 × 40 cm), this compact yet overflowing composition explores themes of the body, proximity, and the theater of appearances.

The scene takes place in a bathtub — a confined, everyday space that becomes both stage and metaphor. Five faces, pressed tightly together, emerge from the water like characters in a miniature play. They seem trapped between pleasure and suffocation, between levity and unease. The title, Tout corps plongé (“Any body immersed”), evokes the law of Archimedes, yet Monjo twists its meaning: here, it’s not about displaced volume, but overflowing emotions.

The viewer encounters a gallery of striking figures: a grinning skeleton with cat ears holding a drink, a red-haired woman with a bright and ironic gaze, a weary young man, a woman marked with Monjo’s distinctive turquoise mask, and a blue character wearing 3D glasses. All share the same existential bathtub — a humorous and poignant bath of humanity where no space, or refuge, remains.

Around the tub, surreal and playful symbols enrich the narrative: a shouting pink rabbit, a yellow rubber duck, a mischievous green fish, and a small white dog watching attentively. These creatures, half whimsical, half grotesque, echo Monjo’s world, where childlike fantasy meets adult disillusionment. The mundane becomes allegory: a representation of communal life, where beings coexist without ever fully aligning.

Nicolas Monjo’s distinctive pictorial language is fully present here. His firm, sculptural line gives weight and texture to skin, expressions, and gestures. The rich, contrasting paint layers animate this confined microcosm, where every glance seems to reach out toward the viewer. The bright ochre background — radiant, almost overwhelming — heightens the dramatic tension, while blues and greys bring depth and calm to the composition.

Beneath its playful surface, Tout corps plongé questions proximity, desire, and the fragility of human relations. The omnipresent dark humor does not ridicule — it reveals. It brings forth the truth of a humanity that is vulnerable, joyful, contradictory, and entirely alive. Monjo celebrates the energy of existence, even in its chaos and imperfections.

This painting, both sensual and critical, fits perfectly within Nicolas Monjo’s artistic universe, where narrative, symbolism, and visual satire intertwine. The work captivates not only through its composition but through its capacity to generate meaning from the crowd, from confinement, and from emotion.

For collectors of contemporary figurative art, Tout corps plongé is a singular piece — intimate yet universal. It captivates with its visual dynamism, humor, and emotional depth. To acquire a work by Nicolas Monjo is to choose an art that is free, sincere, and profoundly human — art that plunges without hesitation into the complexities of our world.

Buy an Original Artwork by Nicolas Monjo

Purchasing Tout corps plongé means bringing into your home a vibrant, colorful, and living artwork. Every painting by Nicolas Monjo tells a story — the story of a fragile yet laughing humanity, of a world that is absurd yet deeply true. Investing in one of his works is supporting authentic creation, rich with meaning and emotion.