The Villon exhibition was dedicated to the life and work of François Villon, the 15th-century French poet. Forty-six years ago, this huge canvas of Villon's feast hung as the centerpiece of the show. It depicts the great “vagabond poet” with his voluptuous concubines. Nonda was drawn to this mysterious figure, the great French medieval poet who somehow combined a life of promiscuity, murder and debauchery with some of the finest poetry in the French language. For three centuries, lyric poetry drew its inspiration from the strict ideals of courtly love. Villon's poetry, in contrast, spoke of a world without order or reason. His vision is humoristic, a parody which reverses the morals and values he believed had paralyzed literature. His poetry wished to free readers into a fantasy borne of laughter. Villon expresses great sympathy for the courtesans of the time and this sympathy is extended to all victims of society in his poetry. Poetry for Villon ceases to be about nobles and their virtues and instead is a response to an unjust world. For these reasons, Villon has been hailed as “the first modern poet” and was celebrated by Nonda repeatedly in his oeuvre.