From the Guardian · · 2m
Chagall ceiling row heads to court
A descendant of the 19th-century artist whose work was covered by Marc Chagall's 1960s canvases is taking legal action to restore the original Paris opera house dome.
In brief
A descendant of the 19th-century artist whose work was covered by Marc Chagall's 1960s canvases is taking legal action to restore the original Paris opera house dome. Arnaud Carayon, descendant of Jules-Eugène Lenepveu, is suing to uncover the original ceiling at Paris's Palais Garnier, hidden for sixty years beneath…
Malraux's whim in 1962
French culture minister André Malraux, bored by the ballet at Paris's Palais Garnier, decided the classical ceiling needed a makeover and commissioned his friend Marc Chagall to redesign it.
Chagall's secret work
Over two years, Chagall worked in secret and for free to produce twenty-four enormous wedge-shaped canvases that were installed over Jules-Eugène Lenepveu's original nineteenth-century classical ceiling.
Lenepveu's original work
Jules-Eugène Lenepveu was chosen by Charles Garnier to paint the opera house ceiling. His classical and allegorical work, The Muses and the Hours of Day and Night, was painted in oil directly on copper plates…
Descendant demands action
Arnaud Carayon, president of the Friends of Lenepveu Society, has asked for three years to have the original ceiling uncovered and restored. He has now instructed a lawyer to take the fight to court.
The Lenepveu ceiling's plight
The Lenepveu ceiling is classified as a historic monument but has not been seen for sixty years.
“The Lenepveu ceiling is classified as a historic monument and yet it hasn't been seen for 60 years and we have no idea what state it is in.”
Chagall's artistic vision
At a twenty twenty-three to twenty twenty-four Chagall exhibition at the Pompidou Centre, curator Anne Montfort-Tanguy said the ceiling is Chagall's autobiography and vision of Paris, featuring artists he loved and important Paris monuments like…
“The ceiling is Chagall: it's his autobiography, his vision of Paris.”
Alternating ceilings proposal
Carayon has written to President Emmanuel Macron suggesting alternating the Lenepveu and Chagall ceilings after the Palais Garnier reopens from renovation between twenty twenty-seven and twenty thirty-two, with each shown for a decade.
Opera director acknowledges both sides
Alexander Neef, director of the Paris Opera, told Le Monde that the debate has gone on for more than sixty years.
“The debate over the Chagall ceiling has gone on for more than 60 years.”
The takeaway
Arnaud Carayon, descendant of Jules-Eugène Lenepveu, is suing to uncover the original ceiling at Paris's Palais Garnier, hidden for sixty years beneath Chagall's canvases installed in nineteen sixty-four.
