Hortus conclusus

Hortus conclusus

In a staircase at the northeast corner (it seems to me) of the Cour Carrée, I come upon three unexpected works by Anselm Kiefer. Not so long ago, we invited him to the College de France for a year. I visited his studio in the former warehouse of a department store, I can’t remember which one, in the outskirts of Paris—a kind of gigantic cathedral formed of all kinds of projects, a succession of chapels containing works-in-progress, an immense depot of all sorts of material. Then we did a public interview at the College de France. These contemporary works are perfectly at home in this staircase of the Louvre. They go well with the stone, the minerality and monumentality of the decor. Of the three pieces, I like Hortus conclusus (2007) best, because of the theme: the “enclosed garden” traditionally painted in the background of Annunciation scenes. The Virgin Mary has disappeared. All that remains is the niche and the perpetual flowers, grey on grey (Escalier du Nord).