That piece had trouble finding a home and is finally in the Petit Palais’s gardens. It’s been scathingly compared to pop artist Jeff Koons’ hated Bouquet de Tulipes sculpture. Les Saturnales isn’t very popular so far. It’s different, isn’t it? Two pieces of golden farm equipment that look like wreaths or diadems. He was given a carte blanche commission to create a piece to celebrate the opera’s 350th anniversary. On December 30, 2018, a new modern art installation by Claude Lévêque was placed atop the Grand Staircase, called Les Saturnales, or the Golden Tires. Decades after The Dance and Chagall’s ceiling, there’s another scandal. If you thought the opera had seen enough controversy, think again. The Golden Tires: A Controversial Art Installation

When the opera was finally inaugurated in 1875, the public saw the showy facade for the first time.Ĭlaude Lévêque’s installation Les Saturnales © C.

His terse response was that it was “in the Napoleon style, Madame.” Louis XIV style was passé.ĭuring construction, the opera facade was kept under wraps, to build tension. Even Empress Eugenie asked Garnier what style he was aiming for. Garnier’s plan was mocked as a labyrinth, a turkish bath, and wedding cake. Everyone felt entitled to weigh in on the splashy new place. The tank’s also used for Paris firefighters to practice nighttime swimming.Ĭonstruction of the Paris Opera was also controversial. Even today, the cistern halts the rising water, though water still needs to be pumped out. They created a stone cistern - an artificial lake - for the water and underground tunnels, as a work around. In 1962, the builders discovered a lake underneath the site. The sculptures on the Paris Opera, labeled.

Paris opera