Versailles and the Murakami Exhibit

I spent the day at Versailles with Victoria. On the train ride out to Versailles, we happened to be sitting next to an American couple from Virginia who had been traveling around France for the past 3 weeks. We get to talking - loving it because both Victoria and I have a newfound love for America and all things English - and immediately the Husband starts talking about "we're the kinda people who have the ipods, ipads, the iphone and all that jazz, but we get here and we end up buying a GPS (shows us the GPS device) for only 60 euro, called Mappy. Let me tell you, this thing knows its shit. If we're about to drive off a cliff it'll tell you - go right - and literally to your right will be a dirt road foot path - but it knows that! it's just amazing. I mean we rented a car - only have to fill her up 4 times - and it only cost us around 1,500 euro. Can you say what I deal." Victoria and I had a nice chuckle afterwards about American's and their love of silly technology and talk of money and prices.

Due to the Greve (strike) that Paris is so loved for, they RER C - the train that you take to get to Versailles - wasn't stopping at the Versailles stop, but one a bit farther away. So we had a nice little walk through the town, on a beautiful fall day up to Chateau Versailles.

 After we go to Versailles, we went out to the gardens to eat our picnic lunch - yogurt, baguettes, lunch meat, cookies, tabouli, cheesy snacks called 'ghosts', and other such deliciously unhealthy things.

We walked around the gardens, intermittently soaked by scattered rain showers, and then walked out to Marie-Antoinette's Hamlet and the Petit and Grand Trianon. 

Grand Trianon

Marie-Antoinette's Oak Tree

Versailles is a huge complex, so it took us like 2 hours to walk from the Chateau out to the Trianon and back again. The huge reason we wanted to go to Versailles was because of Takashi Murakami. He's a famous Japanese artist who had an exhibit in Versailles.

His statement is as follows: "For Japanese, myself included, the Chateau de Versailles is one of the great symbols in Western history. It is emblematic of an elegance, sophistication, and artistic ambition that most of us could only dream of. We understand of course, that the fuse that sparked the fires of revolution led right through the center of the bulding. But in many ways, it all comes across as a fantastic tale from a kingdon far, far away. Just as the people of France might find it difficult to recreate in their minds an accurate image of the age of the Samuri, so too does the story of the plalace become one that is, for us, diluted of reality. Thus, it is likely that the Versilles of my imagination is one that my mind has exaggerated and transformed until it has become a kind of surreal world of its own. It is this that I have tried to capture in this exhibition. I am The Cheshire Cat who greets Alice in Wonderland, and chaters on as she wanders around the Chateau. With my playful smile, I invited you all to the Wonderland of Versailles." - Takashi Murakami.

Here are some of his pieces:

1. Tongari-Kun

2. Oval Buddha Silver

3. Kalkai & Kiki

4. Pom & Me

5. Jellyfish Eyes - Saki
Jellyfish Eyes - Tatsuya
Jellyfish Eyes - Max & Shimon

 
7. Yume Lion (The Dream Lion)

8. Miss ko^2

9. Flower Matango (d)

10. Superflat Flowers

11. The Simple Things

12. J

13. The Emperor's New Clothes

15. Untitled (wallpaper)

16. Kawali - Vacances - Summer Vacation in the Kingdom of the Golden

17. Flower Lamp (Red)

Flower Lamp (Mulit-colored)

18. Untitled (Carpet)

19. Oval Buddha

That was Murakami's show, it was fantastic to see it. Getting out of Paris for the day, smelling the fall air, and having gardens and land to walk was such a treat. We stayed for the musical water show, where they play classical period music and turn the fountains on. Here are some of my favorites:
The Water Parterre:

 The Down Fountain:

 The Water Parterre:

 The Bacchus Fountain:

 The Saturne Fountain:

Latone Fountain and Parterre

We also looked at the gardens - from the Orangerie (which kind of reminds me of like a hollywood film set?)

The South Parterre:

 The Apollo Fountain which looks down the Grand Canal:

I had visited Versailles before, but something about this day was different. Maybe the weather, the company, the mood I was in; I really appreciated the gardens and fountain show. Although we were soaking wet and freezing cold, it was a beautiful day - we saw horses and sheep along Bailly's Pathway towards the Trianon, we saw weird Euro-couples sharing a tomato over a plastic bag catching all their spilled juices, we go to walk through beautiful gardens and smell the fall air. All in all, a very great day out of the city.