GIUSEPPE PENONE AT VERSAILLES

The latest in the Château de Versailles’ contemporary art program comes from Italian sculptor and conceptual artist Giuseppe Penone, a young member of the radical 60s art movement ‘Arte Povera.’ His sculptures are presented principally in the Palace’s formal gardens and dialogue with André Le Nôtre’s masterpiece in the context of a year celebrating the 400th anniversary of the famous landscape architect’s birth. The tree is one of the principal motifs of Penone’s work. He sees it as “a being with the ability to think which has the memory of its past life.” Starting with existing trees, his sculpture becomes a work of modification and re-assemblage producing a new ‘tree’ that symbolises the encounter between nature and culture, and sets up a dialogue across the centuries.
Until 31 Oct. Free access (excepting Tue, Sat, Sun, when Jardins Musicaux and Grandes Eaux Musicales take place).
Garden open daily, 8am-8.30pm.
chateauversailles.fr/