Versaille Part 2: It's definitely not Koons or Murakami.

Giuseppe Penone, Le Foglie Delle Radici,
2011, bronze, plant, and earth

One of the most pleasant days of my trip to Paris was spent in the gardens of Versailles. You can read about it here. In this post, I want to talk about the featured summer artist at Versailles. Before I get to that, a little fine-art griping. Over the past several summers, Versailles has hosted some of the biggest blockbuster exhibits of their respective years. I wanted desperately to see two shows in particular; namely the retrospectives featuring the works of Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami. This summer, the visiting artist was someone I'd never heard of; Giuseppe Penone. (Although since I visited this show, I've seen Mr. Penone's name all over the place including.)  So I was less than excited for the show.

Penone's sculptures definitely don't have the in-your-face spectacle that the work of Koons and Murakami would have had.  And yet, by the time I'd experienced these monumental, quiet works I was a fan of the artist. The sculptures are a strange fusion of bronze and natural materials, often combined in a way that make it hard to determine where the bronze ends and nature begins. I was also frequently delighted with the wonder of the installation.  Many of these works involve very large trees. I can only imagine the efforts made to place these trees in a way that makes them look like they've been a part of Versailles for years.  That brings me to my final point about the work; these sculptures feel surprisingly at home among the meticulously tended  plants, fountains, and sculptures of Versailles. Their unexpected view of nature feels like a perfect contemporary addition to the artistry of the traditional gardens.

Sure, if I had to pick I'd choose to see Koons or Murakami at Versailles. But I'm happy to have been introduced to the inspiring sculptures of Giuseppe Penone's and I will actively seek out his work in the future. Here are a few photos from the installation.

Giuseppe Penone, Albero Folgorato,
2012, bronze

Giuseppe Penone, Elevazione,
2011, bronze and trees

Versailles Penone, installation view

Giuseppe Penone, Spazio di Luce, 2008, bronze

Versailles Part 1: One helluva backyard!

What better thing to do on a beautiful spring day than take a visit to the gardens of Versailles.  The weather gods were looking out for us as we made our way out of Paris to a place that, no matter how many pictures you've seen or descriptions you've heard, is more grand than you can possibly imagine. We decided that we'd visit the gardens first.  And we timed our visit to ensure that we could see the fountains with the water running.  I'm glad we did.  The problem? We spent way too much time in the gardens which would create problems for our later efforts.  Here are a few of my favorite things about the gardens.

Topiary
Topiary has always inspired a kid-like wonder in me.  And the topiary at Versailles are about as close to perfect as you can get.  Sure they avoid cutesy animals and the like. But their formal precision is still somehow humorous and magical.  And it helps accentuate everything in the gardens like the sculptures.

Lattice
The lattice work in some of the garden areas is wondrous.  It offers a strange, mathematical view of what I can only image is the engineering behind the gardens.

The fountains.
I can only imagine that in a time before movies, TV, and the internet, wandering through these gardens with the spectacular fountains turned on would have been awe-inspiring.  Because even in a time with movies, TV, and the internet, walking through these gardens with the fountains running was spectacular.  If you plan a visit, be sure to go when the fountains are on.

The Bikes
As you head Northwest from the palace about halfway down the seemingly-endless canal you can exit the ticketed area of the gardens and rent bikes. This was spectacular fun. And it gave us an opportunity to bike down to the Queen's hamlet.  More on that later.  It was also fun to see all the French families out for fabulous picnics.  Here are a few photos and and video of Felix looking very French on his bike.

The Queen's Pretend Hamlet.
The bikes allowed us to travel the distance to Marie Antoinette's charming hamlet.  In a time before movies, TV, and the internet, what's a bored queen to do? Construct a charming hamlet so you can experience what it's like to be a common farm girl, of course.  So, here are a few images from a truly charming hamlet.

The Bad News.
With all that fun, we spent more time in the gardens than we probably should have.  And by the time we got done, it was 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon.  Not a lot of time left to visit the actual palace.  And with the line you see behind Felix in the photo below.  We decided it wouldn't be worth the wait to get into the palace.  Oh well, I guess we need to save a few things for our next visit.