French architect and draughtsman Jean-Jacques Lequeu was living above a Parisian brothel when he died in obscurity in 1826. A century later his work inspired both Sol LeWitt and Claes Oldenburg. But how? Months before he died, Lequeu wisely donated thousands of his drawings to the National Library. His designs range from highly skilled architectural plans for the government, to deeply detailed and entirely fantastical side projects: a barn shaped like a cow, an underwater pavilion. The Menil celebrates Lequeu’s unique imagination with a selection of his unrealized designs. —C.J.F.