Controversy Over Paris Opera House Ceiling Reignites with Threat of New Lawsuit
Descendants of the 19th-century artist are calling for the removal of Marc Chagall canvases installed in the 1960s that cover the original ceiling murals. In 1962, then-French Culture Minister André Malraux, reportedly bored by a ballet he was watching at the Paris Opera House, looked up at the classical ceiling and concluded it needed restoration. Malraux decided to commission his friend and artist Marc Chagall, who at the time was at the Palais Garnier in…
In 1962, the French Minister of Culture at the time, André Malraux, who was apparently bored with the ballet he was watching at the Paris Opera, set his eyes on the classical ceiling and recognized that the classical ceiling needed to be changed.
In his regret, Malraux decided that his friend and artist Marc Chagall, who was sitting next to him at the Garnier Palace at the time, should be the man for this task and ordered him to build a new ceiling.
Over the next two years, Chagall worked in secret and for free to produce 24 huge, colorful wedge-shaped canvases, which were installed on the original 19th-century classical ceiling by the forgotten artist Jules-Eugène Lenpo.
Today, more than four decades after Chagall's death, one of Lenepveu's descendants is planning legal action to restore and uncover the original ceiling.
Arnaud Carrion says he has been "asking hard" for this to happen for three years, including writing two letters to French President Emmanuel Macron. Now he has ordered a lawyer to take the case to court.
"The Lenepveu roof is classified as a historical monument, but it hasn't been seen for 60 years and we don't know what condition it is in," Carrion said.
"Nowadays everyone has forgotten about Lenpou. Unfortunately, he was swept away by the wave of Impressionism, but he was truly a star in his time. More importantly, he was specifically chosen by Charles Garnier to decorate the ceiling of the Opera, who designed everything in the Opera House right down to the last door handle.
But on a whim, Malraux decided that he did not agree with Garnier's choice.
The Garnier Opera House was commissioned by Napoleon III and opened in January 1875 in the presence of European royalty and political figures, including the then Mayor of London, Sir William Cotton.
A friend and colleague of Henri Garnier, Lenpouau produced a classic, allegorical work painted in oil directly on the copper plates of the Opera House dome. Entitled The Muses and the Hours of Day and Night, and listed in history in 1923, it was considered perfectly in keeping with the ornate Second Empire style of the Garnier palace.
Lenepveu, who went on to lead the French Academy in Rome, later produced a series of Jean-Darque frescoes in the Panthéon in Paris, but his name is little known today.
It is said that Malraux wanted to give the bustling opera house a more modern and edgy feel. Chagall's 24 cake-shaped canvases were connected around a central chandelier that covered 220 square meters (2,368 square feet) of the dome. It is divided into separate colors: red, blue, green, yellow and white. And it has dancers, angels, musicians and the names of composers.
Even before the installation of Chagall's works, the conflict between the traditionalists and the modernists escalated and reached the other side of the channel.
The Royal Institute of British Architects in London wrote to the French Minister of Culture asking him to abandon plans for the original roof covering. "The unique character of this building [Opera House] is based on the fact that all its elements: architecture, paintings, sculptures and mosaics are in harmony." Riba wrote. Its request was ignored.
The Palais Garnier will be closed for renovations between 2027 and 2032, and Carrion, president of the Friends of Lapeau, said he has written to Macron to propose alternating the Lapeau and Chagall ceilings after it reopens, each on display for a decade. He said the Elysee Palace only replied that the president was "particularly concerned" about the issue.
Chagall's ceiling was originally designed to be removable. It can be removed without any damage. We thought that the idea of alternating ceilings was very positive and promising, but it seems that no one dares to touch the Chagall ceiling.
At the 2023-24 Chagall exhibition at the Center Pompidou, curator Anne Montfort-Tangoy said: “The roof [of the Opera House] is Chagall: it is his biography, his vision of Paris. All the artists he loved are represented, as well as what he considered the most important monuments of Paris, such as the Eiffel Tower... It's a moving, fluid, almost cinematic work. "The ceiling is a complete work of art."
This was Chagall's gift to the country that welcomed him. A tribute to France and Paris."
"The debate over Chagall's ceiling has been going on for more than 60 years," Alexandre Neef, director of the Paris Opera, told Le Monde. The Lenepveu cathedral has been registered as a historical monument since 1923, so its heritage value is recognized. It is legitimate that his descendants [Lenpoo] want to defend his memory."