Eva Jospin

From 18 June to 29 September 2024, the Palace of Versailles is inviting artist Eva Jospin to display her creation Silk Room as part of the Eva Jospin – Versailles exhibition at the Orangery. A monumental embroidery some 107 metres (350 feet) long and spanning more than 350 m² (3,757 sq. ft.), Silk Room institutes a singular dialogue with the Orangery’s captivating architecture, inviting visitors to a leisurely stroll.

« Silk Room », A true feat of embroidery

Inspired by the Embroidery Room of the Palazzo Colonna in Rome and Virginia Woolf’s essay A Room of One’s Own, Silk Room is a triumph of embroidery. Its landscape-depicting walls, spanning more than 350 m² (3,757 sq. ft.), were produced by the artisans of the Chanakya workshop and the Chanakya School of Craft in Mumbai, in constant dialogue with Eva Jospin. Each stroke of the artist’s drawing was transfigured into thread through the use of more than 400 shades of silk, cotton, and jute skeins, creating an installation in the style of 19th-century panoramas. Invited by Maria Grazia Chiuri, Eva Jospin previously presented Silk Room at the Dior Fall-Winter 2020–2021 haute couture fashion show.

A unique dialogue with the Orangery of the Palace of Versailles

To create this striking piece, Eva Jospin drew from her usual themes of choice: nature, wandering, and architectural follies. Silk Room takes on a linear configuration in the Orangery, encouraging visitors to wander and engage in an immersive experience.

For this exhibition, Eva Jospin has enriched her work with two new embroidery panels inspired by the groves and gardens of Versailles, particularly the fabled Labyrinth Grove, demolished in the 18th century, as well as the trellised galleries encircling the Enceladus Grove.

The Orangery’s unique architectural force sets it apart as the ideal setting for the artist’s monumental embroidery work, while also resonating with the creation in terms of scale and the theme of strolling. A visit to Versailles already offers ample opportunities to wander among groves and waterfalls. Like a mirror image of nature, Jospin has succeeded in capturing a new garden, as spectacular as those at Versailles.

Born in 1975, Eva Jospin studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. For some 15 years, she has been composing forest and architectural landscapes in a variety of media. A fellow at the Villa Medici in Rome from 2016 to 2017, her work has been featured at several major exhibitions in France and abroad, currently including Selva at the Museo Fortuny in Venice and Tromper l’œil, on display at GALLERIA CONTINUA in Paris since May 2023.