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Exhibition The Ghosts of the Louvre. Enki Bilal

Contemporary Art
from December 20, 2012 to March 18, 2013

Next Exhibition Eugène Delacroix. Winter Flowers
Othoniel, Creten

Enki Bilal went to the Louvre... There, he photographed hundreds of the museum’s treasures, often from original vantage points and unusual perspectives. He chose 23 of the resulting photographs, and printed them on canvases measuring 50 x 60 cm. And finally, on each of those 23 prints, with acrylic and pastel… he summoned up a ghost.

Bilal’s ghosts include those of a Roman soldier, a muse, a painter, a German officer… men, women and children who died long ago, often meeting a violent end. Now they wander the Louvre, hovering near the place or work of art that changed the course of their lives—the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, a recumbent Christ, an Egyptian bust, the Alcove Bedchamber… The artist conjures up these evanescent, wandering souls with a delicacy that belies their forceful presence. And he recounts their life stories in dramatic biographies that combine fiction and historical reality, often evoking the creation of the works in question.

Bilal’s paintings will be presented in the Louvre’s prestigious Salle des Sept-Cheminées—an extraordinary exhibition for a powerfully haunting work.

Organized by:

Fabrice Douar, musée du Louvre, Publications division

Practical information

Du 20 décembre 2012 au 18 mars 2013
From December 20, 2012 to March 18, 2013

Location
Sully wing, 1st floor, Salle des Sept-Cheminées

Opening hours
Open every day (except Tuesday) from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Night opening until 9:45 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays

Admission
Included in the museum ticket: €11

Further information
+33 (0)1 40 20 53 17