30.7.10

In His Dreams

As I reported earlier in the year with 'Man In The Mirror', installation impressions have been released in the run-up to Takashi Murakami's exhibition at The Palace of Versailles which is now due to launch on September 14th and will run for three months. I think I may have to coincide my birthday with a journey across La Manche for what is to be a spectacular visual feast of the past and present. In a statement released by the artist, Murakami describes how his role will be the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, guiding visitors in a dream-like state around the Palace. But we all know in Murakami's world this won't be any guided tour - we're talking blinged-out, Superflat hallucinations and with a Ladurée conveniently located on the Palace grounds (merci Marie Antoinette), we can join in the mad hattery and have our tea, macaroons and cake before we wake up! Read Murakami's statement below - I'm off to book my tickets! Bon weekend tout le Monde!

“For a Japanese like me, the Château de Versailles is one of the greatest symbols of Western history. It is the emblem of an ambition for elegance, sophistication and art that most of us can only dream of. Of course, we are aware that the spark that set fire to the powder of the Revolution came directly from the centre of the building.


But, in many respects, everything is transmitted to us as a fantastic tale coming from a very distant kingdom. Just as French people can find it hard to recreate in their minds an accurate image of the Samurai period, the history of this palace has become diminished for us in reality.

So it is probable that the Versailles of my imagination corresponds to an exaggeration and a transformation in my mind so that it has become a kind of completely separate and unreal world. That is what I have tried to depict in this exhibition.


I am the Cheshire cat that welcomes Alice in Wonderland with its diabolic smile, and chatters away as she wanders around the Château.

With a broad smile I invite you all to discover the wonderland of Versailles.” Takashi Murakami 2010