Since I mentioned them yesterday I thought I could show them to you today. Basically, the Colonnes de Buren (named after the artist, Daniel Buren), are nothing more than striped pillars aligned in perfect order in the courtyard of the Palais Royal (you can have an excellent view of this alignment thanks to this photo by Yann Arthus Bertrand taken from the sky). It became controversial for political reasons (the traditional left/right wing fights) and because a lot of people thought it was a bad idea to integrate modern art in a historical location. Did I mention that previously this courtyard was used as a parking lot?
You know, in all my trips to Paris, I have never seen them. Shame on me!
ReplyDeletefinalement, on s'est habitué à ces colonnes, je trouve qu'elles
ReplyDeletes'intrègent plutôt harmonieusement à l'architecture environnante, et c'est une aire de jeu sympa pour les mômes.
Bonjour Eric! Je suis de Hong Kong, et j'aime beaucoup ton blog! En fait, Paris me manque toujours...
ReplyDeleteFor those who still believe this is a piece of modern art, I am afraid you have been fooled by the politics and the media for a long time.
ReplyDeleteThe columns have been specially designed for dogs to do their business. The different column size allow every dog to pee comfortably. Since dogs have black and white vision, the columns are painted with vertical black stripes. Clever, huh?
I never did warm up to these things! Not that I can't see the artistic value of it, but I would have put them in a place like La Defense, not Palais Royal. Just my opinion, of course.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, here is another couple of shots of these things
As I said on yesterdays post I'm not fond of these columns, but just for opposite reason of Tomate Farcie. That is, it's no problem for me to have a piece of modern art in a historical place instead of keeping them in a ghetto (modern art and towers in La Defense only) as long as the newcomer shows some respect and interest to his environment which to me, is not the case here. Buren does the same stripes everywhere.
ReplyDeleteBy the way Eric, have you ever showed any picture of this nice Metro entry nearby, Place Colette. I find it so full of poetry.
>GG. I did, I did a long time ago (here). I love it too...
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