SHEER MADNESS or a contemporary DA VINCI code

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It could only be sheer madness to go to the Louvre on the 15th of August. A public holiday on a Thursday when most of Europe would take the Friday and make it a very long weekend. So, it’s not surprising that I was confronted with crowds of tourists. I certainly wasn’t planning to see the Jaconde, or the Victoire de Samothrace, or Aphrodite, I had come to see Michelangelo Pistoletto. Contemporary art in situ at the Louvre. Little did I know that I would be on a hunt for his work - rather like the Da Vinci Code in modern dress. Here was I imagining that his work would be icentralized in one  gallery and not "spattered around" the Louvre. The first thing I fell on - literally -was this....would you believe there is nothing to describe what you are looking at. Just this marvelous title «Entre Terre et Mer- L’extraordinaire Bestiare de la Mosaique Romaine à Lod». and after a long hunt on Internet, I found this.

In a remarkable state of preservation, this extensive Roman mosaic was discovered in Lod in 1996, during the construction of a highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.


It was part of a large pavement covering the floor of what was probably a reception room in a house. Made up of marble and limestone tesserae and cubes of glass paste, it offers a richly detailed portrait of the animal world in all its diversity. Human activities are referred to by the presence of two boats sailing among the marine life in the mosaic's lower part.
Presented side by side with the Antioch Four Seasons Mosaic and not far from the new exhibition areas devoted to the East Mediterranean in the Roman Empire, the Lod Mosaic is being specially put on show in Paris before its return to the Lod Mosaic Archaeological Center, currently being built on the site of the discovery.
So it looks as if I was lucky as it will not be here for very long - in fact the 2nd September in returns to its new home. I sent over a photo to Laurent - the guessing game «Where am I? What is this?» I can’t blame anyone for getting it wrong. This is 300  AD and some of the drawing seem very modern indeed.




















I had seen a sign which said Pistoletto. But there was nothing to see? Finally I asked an attendant who looked at me as if I had landed from the middle ages and replied cynically «but they are all over the museum. Haven’t you got a map?» So back I went, fighting with the crowds and came back with a map.





This is where the Da Vinci code comes in. The insallations or photos are effectively all over the museum. I’m sure that Marielle would agree with me that the Louvre maps are not made for the likes of us. Tourists wander around turning the maps this way and that. Mine was specifically for the exhibition. It seem that  attendants couldn’t figure it out either. So I was on my own. Discovering what I could and oh dear me, I had to go up the stair case, thought the Mona Lisa Gallery and find myself within the crowds. And yet, I wasn’t. No-one was admiring his work. It blended into the Louvre marvelously.
Postiletto is an Italian contemporary artist (born in Beilla in 1933). The Louvre invited him to present his work. It is being displayed in three of the main departments :  Greek and Roman sculptures (which was why I ended up admiring the mosaic), the Italians, and the Medieval Louvre in the Marly courtyard. His work is theatrical and yet spectators didn’t see it unless looking closely to see if the men were real or not. Down below I am  part of the «Painting on an Easel» - I have become the painter. I knew his name as Pistoletto was part of the Arte Povera mouvement in the 60’s. The way his work blends in with different surroundings is stunning. 


Vortex Diptyque 2010-2013

Vortex Diptyque 2010-2013

Vortex Diptyque 2010-2013

Vortex Diptyque 2010-2013

Two naked women dancing 1962-64

Venus with rags 1967

Human figure 1962

Painting on an easel - 1962-75

Sacred conversation (Anselmo, Zorio, Penonne) 196-74

Comizio X - 1962-76

Mapmonde 1966-68


It was a treasure hunt. I found perhaps 10 of the 17. I’ll return to see the others.That will be after the Biennale in Venice.


Coming home, I followed  the  Ascension parade up the Rue Monge. So perhaps my day had ended well?




Ascension March
Ascension March

Ascension March

Ascension March


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