The Palace of Versailles and Contemporary Art: Takashi Murakami

The castling of Versailles located approximately twelve miles outside Paris, France and is viewed as a touch to showcase in advance(p) art. Much of the art that the rook has put on exhibitions over the years has brought a lot of controversy including the almost modern one by Japanese artist Takashi Murakimi. Looking back at the 400 years of history at the castle of Versailles it was once a home for the French royal family, a center of attention for political baron and today is a symbol of absolute monarchy. King Louis XIV viewed Versailles besides as a showcase for the artists he supported.Louis and his successors were passionate about modern art and were constantly having parts of the palace demolished and rebuilt and redecorated by the newest and finest artists of t heritor day. Versailles serves as a place where the newest ideas in art atomic number 18 showcased and served as a trendsetter for other palaces as well such as The Louvre with its over the top decorations sh owing the monarchys wealth. Today, the palace is constantly having most of the currently most popular artists showcase their extend at Versailles for the open to view.The most recent exhibit at the palace by Takashi Murakami ran from family 14, 2010 to December 12, 2010 has sparked a lot of controversy. This exhibition is called Murakami Versailles features 15 statues placed in different rooms of the palace. Murakami is a modern-day artist from Japan and has been bill as the new Andy Warhol, who is also Murakamis mentor. The showcase features big, brightly drab car excessivelynish figures, flowers, globes and other inanimate objects. The style is far from the Baroque style of the palace, deviation most critics to deem the show inappropriate.Some groups visiting the Chateau complained that Murakamis ferment has no place in rooms once residence to diachronic figures such as King Louis XIV, Frances Sun King and Marie Antoinette. Prince Charles-Emmanual de Bourbon-Parme, an hei r of Louis XIV, tried to get the exhibit banned stating that it dishonored his family and their past except the courts dismissed his bid. One of his most taste little pieces is a sculpture name Hiropon, a large-breasted girl in a bikini who is skipping through a rope made of breast milk, this piece is not included in the exposition provided it shows that Mr. Murakami is undeserving of Versailles. Muarakami spoke at a intelligence conference and discussed the controversy. When I hear such things, I say to myself that when a (sports) team scores a goal, there ar always passel who arent happy about it and who express that discontent The exhibits meant to be a sort of face-off between the Baroque result and postwar Japan, and I hope it will create in visitors a sort of shock, an aesthetic feeling (Barchfield).Jean-Jacques Aillagon, president of the Chateau de Versailles defended the showcase saying he believes it is his duty to open the palace to the artistic creation of our time s (Barchfield). He also stated it gives the visitors to historic monuments the chance to discover art that is less familiar to them He added that the protests come from far-right fundamentalistics circles and from very conservative circles who look at the museum as a reliquary of nostalgia of Ancient Regime France, of a France, that is turned in itself and hostile to modernity (Protesters).Aillagon also stated the palace and Murakamis work are both joyful- the palace was not a place of penitence, not a place to be sad (Takashi Murakamis Versailles). Versailles curator, Laurent Le Bon, stated most of the visitors come for the chateau, not for Murakami, and are unfamiliar with contemporary art (Von Uthmann). some(prenominal) online petitions gathered thousands of names online even before the exhibition opened to the public. dickens years ago a similar controversy occurred when Aillagon brought in contemporary American artist Jeff Koons.Call me a far right fundamentalist and conser vative but I agree with all of the criticism skirt this issue. This past November I got the privilege of traveling to Paris and visiting the palace of Versailles. I had not heard anything about this exhibit occurring until getting to the Palace, paseo into one of the first rooms and sightedness it firsthand. I was appalled when visual perception the first statue, my family and I thought the statues took a lot away from the lulu of the chateau.It also prevented us from forecasting parts of the rooms and taking pictures of ceilings, walls, particular(prenominal) architecture that was being blocked from the statues. One visitor stated we are in a historic place, we want to see how history happened here, but both time you see a doll or a crazy monster it takes you completely out of the climax of the place (Takashi Murakamis Versailles). another(prenominal) stated, it totally detracts from everything thats here.Its almost insulting to the palace and to visitors (Takashi Murakamis Versailles ) My to the lowest degree favorite was a piece called Tongari-Kun, also known as Mr. Pointy, in spite of appearance one of the state rooms because it was so tall it blocked me from seeing the entire ceiling. Moreover, another piece called Flower Matango in the Hall of Mirrors was righteous awful in this room. The mansion of mirrors is one of the most famous and bewitching rooms in the entire palace rich in sweetie and history but it was all masked because of this statue.The sculpture of a thump of bright, animated, ugly flowers. We could not step back and see the entire hall in its original beauty without seeing this statue smack in the center and the beauty of the mirrors was taken away because this statue was being reflected off of almost every one at that end of the hall. The statues were too brightly colored and too in your face from the mood of the rest of the palace. I throw off no personal pictures of the artwork because I, along with everyone else in my f amily, made sure Murakamis art was out of every picture frame.I can actualize why they have the exposition and the cultural exchange, the fact that they want to save the tradition of showing the world modern art but unalike when the palace was being used for residence and power today the palace is an enormous historical landmark and is visited by over three trillion people per year. People do not go to the Parthenon in Greece or the Colosseum in Rome to see other artists or even have other artists intruding on its beauty.Likewise, these visitors do not go to see modern art but to see the old beauty of the palace and walk into a bit of history for a day. There are so many other museums in Paris that show modern art that the Palace of Versailles does not affect to be one of them. The Palace is a piece of art on its own and does not need to have these controversial exhibits constantly demolishing its beauty. After seeing this general I was disappointed with the exhibit and I wish I could go back another time when there will not be such a distraction.