The Aurelie Nemours Prize was founded in 2000 by Aurelie Nemours, one of the leading artists of geometric abstraction of the second half of the 20th century. It rewards any artist, regardless of his discipline, whose work pursues the rigorous and spiritually charged plastic quest that has been his or her own. She had written: "Believing that art is a struggle against the disarray of our civilization, I firmly believe that the spiritual charge of art is the only recourse and salvation."

This prize has been awarded since 2000 by the Aurelie Nemours Association under the aegis of the Institut de France and chaired by Serge Lemoine. In order to ensure the continuity of the activities of the Nemours Cultural Association and their financing, the artist decided, in 2001, to create a foundation under the auspices of the Institut de France: the Aurelie Nemours Foundation was thus born.

Since its creation, the Prize has been awarded to Julije Knifer in 2000, then to Imi Knoebel, Adalberto Mecarelli, Bernard Aubertin, Helmut Federle, Cécile Bart, Didier Vermeiren, Jean-François Dubreuil, Philippe Decrauzat, Esther Stocker in 2020 and, for the year 2021, to Pe Lang for all of his work and to Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri for their joint work combining visual arts and sound.

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of this Prize, with a delay due to the pandemic, an exhibition is organised by the Aurelie Nemours Association with a selection of works by each of the laureates, presented in the rooms of the Drawing Lab, 17 rue de Richelieu in Paris from 1 July to 21 September 2022.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue and its opening will coincide in the same venue with the presentation of the 2021 prize to Pe Lang and Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri on 30 June 2022 by Mr Xavier Darcos, Chancellor of the Institut de France (by invitation).