Jeff Koons at Versailles
 

I just returned from spending a wonderful week in Paris.
Only one complaint...what is with that Jeff Koons exhibit at Versailles. Strange...VERY VERY STRANGE! None of the pieces went with the decor...including the Michael Jackson + Bubbles piece.

I was an art major in college and I just don't get it!

Does anyone agree (or disagree) with me?

There was one or two threads on Koons at Versailles a few months ago.

In summary, it appears that DH & I were the only people here who enjoyed it (we went in Sept 08). At least 2 or 3 other Fodorites complained about it.

DH & I KNEW about the Koons exhibit there before we went to Versailles, so it wasn't a surprise to us. We thought the installation was quite witty. I guess one has to have a sense of humor to like it.

If one visited Versailles mainly to see the grandeur and glory of bygone era, I can see how one might be disappointed (or annoyed) by the juxtaposition of Koons' sculptures among the palace.

I don't get the 2 large rusty
pieces of iron in the Tuileries near Place de la Concorde either...

I mentioned another abomination that was displayed at Versailles in my 2007 trip report. In the courtyard, they had the "sculpture" Calamita Cosmica, by Gino Dominicus. I could not find a picture of it at Versailles, but here is a picture of it in another locale.

I have not seen the Koons exhibits, but could they be more grotesque than this?

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Eur...hoto627153.htm

:-(

WHAT THE HELL?

My reaction exactly! What could be more incongruous next to the reflecting pool at Versailles?

What COULD they have been thinking?

:-(

I mentioned it on my blog. We were there on 12-26 and I found it horrible as did everyone in our party. YUCK YUCK YUCK. It completely detracted from Versialles imo.

I am with you 100% Luv2fly.

I think the skeleton was meant to represent the dead Ancien Regime! LOL

Here's a small sample of the Koons works in Versailles:

http://www.chateauversailles.fr/pdf/...sier-JK-en.pdf

I have a few of them in my facebook pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...;id=1069860504

Well, the Jeff Koons exhibit (which was extended by popular demand) finally ended this week.

I saw the Jeff Koons exhibit at Versailles. I went to the chateau A) to see Versailles, B) to see the Jeff Koons in Versailles.

I could tell they were striving for wit, but (to me) it missed the mark. The pieces were so firmly cordoned off from the rest of the surroundings that they had no chance to look natural in the setting. They seemed less like a juxtaposition, rather than just plopped down in the middle of a salon for no apparent reason.

I enjoyed visiting Versailles b/c I had never been before. The Koons sculptures neither enhanced nor detracted from my experience of the chateau.

But if I had gone specifically to see the Koons sculptures in the Versailles setting, I would have been disappointed.

It was a good idea with poor execution.

Looking at this crap that is supposed to be art always helps me recall the fairy tale of the Emperor's New Clothes. A bunch of too cool "intellectuals" foisting one over on the rabble.

"I may not know much about art
but I know this ain't it!"

LOL

Seeing MJ and his monkey and balloon animal poodles in Versailles would have made my visit much less pleasurable!

Rob

Seeing MJ and his monkey and balloon animal poodles in Versailles would have made my visit much less pleasurable!

Rob
====
We did feel it detracted from the visit. It was just strange.

I have nothing against such an exhibit and the contrast in a place like Versailles. But what astounds me is the price that a work by Jeff Koons fetches.

As a gag, it's priceless. But as something to buy???

Not all Koons sculpture are MJ and Bubbles. I don't care for the vacuum cleaners nor the inflatable floaties, but I love his metallic flower sculptures.

Whether his Magenta Flower is worth $26M is up to the buyers. But certainly for the seller, the Rachofskys, it was a great price. They paid $1.1M for it in 2001.
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfa...n%20flower.jpg

I am a huge Jeff Koons fan. To me, his work evokes an innocent childhood mixed with the sinister. Many of his "sculptures" look untouched by the human hand (Balloon Dog and Silver Bunny), so unlike artists like Michelangelo or Rodin. These sculptures look toward the future and remind me of something Don Delillo wrote in "White Noise"--Technology is lust removed from nature.

Thin

We saw the Koons exhibit in NYC this past summer. Needless to say we were scratching our heads when we were at Versailles the day after Christmas only to see him again. I like his art but I don't think it works at Versailles.

I just got back from Paris last Saturday and went to Versailles as well. I knew about the exhibit from reading the boards here, but didn't exactly know "what" the exhibit looked like. Yeah...my initial reaction to it was what the heck? (that's not what my real reaction was, I think my original words were much harsher) I'm sorry, but that did not belong there. Not only that, but a) you had people accidentally crossing over whatever security system they had there for the exhibit, thus setting off alarms and b) reduced the available space to move around in. If his stuff should have been exhibited anywhere, the Pompidou Center would have been more apt.