Website dedicated to the exhibition : www.vasconcelos-versailles.com

Joana Vasconcelos

The palace of Versailles is the place of art par excellence, where artists have always felt at home, displaying their work in it not as an exhibition space but as a setting totally imbued with art. It is a full, complete and rich place where it seems that nothing can be added. It is the ideal setting for celebrating audacity, experimentation and freedom, where creative talent is appreciated like in no other place.

My work has developed around the idea that the world is an opera, and Versailles embodies the operatic and aesthetic ideal that inspires me. The works that I propose exist for this place. I see them as linked to Versailles in a timeless way. When I stroll through the rooms of the Palace and its Gardens, I feel the energy of a setting that gravitates between reality and dreams, the everyday and magic, the festive and the tragic. I can still hear the echo of the footsteps of Marie-Antoinette, and the music and festive ambiance of the stately rooms. How would the life of Versailles look if this exuberant and grandiose universe was transferred to our period?

Interpreting the dense mythology of Versailles, transporting it into the contemporary world, and evoking the presence of the important female figures that have lived here, while drawing on my identity and my experience as a Portuguese woman born in France, will certainly be the most fascinating challenge of my career.

Joana Vasconcelos

The curator of this exhibition is Jean-François Chougnet

Website dedicated to the exhibition : www.vasconcelos-versailles.com

Mary Poppins, 2010

Mary Poppins, 2010
Gabriel Staircase

Visitors are welcomed at the Gabriel staircase by Mary Poppins, a vast tentacular body made from an original mix of textiles and pre-existing objects, an assembly of industrial textures and hand-sewn fabrics.

The work forms part of the Valkyries series, which visitors will find in the Battles Gallery where five textile works are hanging. Enormous and colourful, Mary Poppins thrusts out six protective arms towards us. Like the other works in the series, Mary Poppins displays a joyful exuberance in the use of ornaments and textiles of different kinds. Hanging from the ceiling, this strange creature-chandelier with its improbable organic features is in striking contrast to the strict neo-Classicism of the surrounding architecture.

Mary Poppins – an angel of modern popular culture – refers us back to the designer of the staircase, the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel. The visitors to the Palace begin their exploration here under the sacred and profane protection of Saint Gabriel and Mary Poppins.

Coração Independente Vermelho,
2005

Coração Independente Vermelho [Red Independent Heart], 2005
Coração Independente Preto [Black Independent Heart], 2006
Peace Salon and War Salon

The Red and Black Independent Hearts are hung at the two ends of the Hall of Mirrors, the first in the Peace Salon and the second in the War Salon.

The works reproduce the Viana heart – an emblematic theme of Portuguese jewellery - and offer two monumental versions of it: one black, the other red, colours that symbolise death and passion, war and peace. Suspended in their respective axes, the hearts execute a rotation movement that evokes the cycles of life and the eternal return. As they approach these sparkling hearts, visitors discover with surprise that they consist entirely of plastic sheets forming a dizzying illusion of reality that recalls the virtuosity of the masters of the 17th century.

The works take their title – Independent Heart – from one of the lines of the “fado” song “Strange Form of Life”, which explores the conflict between emotion and reason. The strong presence of musical references in the installation via the voice of Amalia Rodrigues, the diva of Portuguese music, offers a reminiscence of the concerts previously given by Marie Leszczinska in the Peace Salon and recalls the important role that she played in the musical life of Versailles.

A moving kinetic and acoustic installation, Independent Heart comes across as a powerful diptych dedicated to passion and death, recurring themes in “fado” songs, which dialogue here with the themes of peace and war depicted in the eloquent paintings of Charles Le Brun and François Lemoyne.

Marilyn, 2011

Marilyn, 2011
Hall of Mirrors

The Hall of Mirrors, the setting for sumptuous ceremonies and important events in the history of humanity, hosts Marilyn, an elegant pair of court shoes whose amplified scale is achieved by the accumulation of stainless steel pots and lids.

This gigantic accumulation generates a Gulliver effect whereby the work looms in the vast gallery like an ode to the conquests of women in the public and private spheres. The stainless steel of Marilyn – as resistant as the suits of armour and shields of the warriors depicted in the paintings and medallions of the ceilings of Charles Le Brun – combines its sparkle with that of the mirrors decorating the arcade, provoking a disconcerting play of reflections that multiply to infinity.

Standing at the south end of the Hall of Mirrors, the monumental pair of court shoes reminds visitors of the immense successes won by the absent female figure, as glorious as the victories of Louis XIV celebrated in the paintings of Le Brun, now reflected on the cold metal surface of Marilyn..

Website dedicated to the exhibition : www.vasconcelosversailles.com

Opening times

The exhibition is open every day except Mondays.

For the works exhibited in the Grand Apartments, open from 9:00 am to 6:30 pm (last admission at 6:00 pm).
For the works exhibited in the gardens, open from 8:00 am to 8:30 pm.

Attention : the gallery of the Battles, where are presented the 3 Valkyries, and the room of 1830, where is presented Lilicoptere, will be closed to the public on 30 August as well as on 11, 12 and 16 September.

All the opening times

Tickets

You can see the works exhibited in the Grand Apartments with a Passport or Palace ticket.

The audioguide, which contains commentaries on several works in the exhibition, is included in the price of the ticket.

Access to the works exhibited in the gardens is free, except on the days of the Musical Fountains Show and the Musical Gardens (Saturdays and Sundays, public holidays and some Tuesdays). On the days of the Musical Fountains Show and the Musical Gardens, you can visit the gardens with a Passport or Gardens ticket.

All entrances

Acces

You enter the Grand Apartments by the principal entrance of the Palace.

You enter the gardens through the Princes Courtyard.

All the entrances