Jean-Michel Othoniel La Rose du Louvre
Jean-Michel Othoniel’s La Rose du Louvre establishes a poetic dialogue between contemporary art and the historic collections of the Musée du Louvre. Created in 2019 for the 30th anniversary of I. M. Pei’s Louvre Pyramid, the work consists of six paintings inspired by a floral detail found in a masterpiece by Peter Paul Rubens.
La rose du Louvre
Jean-Michel Othoniel and La Rose du Louvre
Born in Saint-Étienne in 1964, Jean-Michel Othoniel is one of the most internationally recognised French contemporary artists. Since the late 1980s, his practice has developed through drawing, sculpture, installation, photography and performance.
Initially, Othoniel experimented with materials such as wax and sulphur. From 1993 onwards, however, glass became one of the defining elements of his artistic language. His works frequently interact with architecture, gardens and historic monuments, creating a dialogue between contemporary forms and cultural memory.
With La Rose du Louvre, this relationship with history acquired a particularly refined dimension.
A rose inspired by Rubens
For the Louvre project, Jean-Michel Othoniel turned his attention to a detail in Peter Paul Rubens’ monumental cycle dedicated to Marie de’ Medici.
The artist was particularly fascinated by the rose represented in The Wedding of Marie de’ Medici and Henri IV. From this apparently secondary detail, Othoniel developed an entirely new artistic interpretation.
For him, the rose became an emblem of the Louvre itself: a symbol of beauty, passion, power and memory. At the same time, it evokes the extraordinary iconographic richness hidden within the museum’s collections.
Thus, a small botanical detail from a seventeenth-century painting became the starting point for a contemporary work.
A rose inspired by Rubens
For the Louvre project, Jean-Michel Othoniel turned his attention to a detail in Peter Paul Rubens’ monumental cycle dedicated to Marie de’ Medici.
The artist was particularly fascinated by the rose represented in The Wedding of Marie de’ Medici and Henri IV. From this apparently secondary detail, Othoniel developed an entirely new artistic interpretation.
For him, the rose became an emblem of the Louvre itself: a symbol of beauty, passion, power and memory. At the same time, it evokes the extraordinary iconographic richness hidden within the museum’s collections.
Thus, a small botanical detail from a seventeenth-century painting became the starting point for a contemporary work.
Contemporary Art in Paris
From temporary installation to the Louvre collections
Although La Rose du Louvre was originally conceived as a temporary installation, its history did not end with the exhibition.
In 2020, the six paintings entered the permanent collections of the Musée du Louvre through a donation by Jean-Michel Othoniel.
The acquisition confirmed the importance of the project and strengthened the dialogue between the historic museum and contemporary artistic creation.
For Othoniel, the Louvre has a particular significance. Long before becoming an internationally recognised artist, he had worked at the museum as a guard during his student years. Decades later, his own work became part of the institution he had once observed from within.
Flowers, art and memory at the Louvre
The project was also connected with Othoniel’s research into flowers represented throughout the Louvre collections.
His exploration resulted in The Secret Language of Flowers, a journey through botanical symbols concealed in paintings, sculptures and decorative works.
Within this imaginary herbarium, the rose selected from Rubens occupies a privileged place. Through La Rose du Louvre, Jean-Michel Othoniel transforms it into a bridge between the Old Masters and contemporary art, between historical memory and a new poetic vision.