On the ground floor of the Denon Wing of the Louvre, the wing that runs along the Seine, nine new works have just been hung. Nine paintings by the Dutch and South African artist Marlene Dumas. Stoic, enigmatic, silent faces, pine green turning to muddy brown, tangerine orange, faded blue: Nine canvases forming a series called “Liaisons,” which Laurence des Cars, the museum’s president and director, commissioned.
Their unveiling to the press on Thursday, November 6, should have been one of the highlights of the autumn season for the museum, as it was meant to embody the ambition that des Cars set for herself from the moment she was appointed on September 1, 2021: to transform the old institution from the ground up. This transformation was in line with the ambitious Nouvelle Renaissance du Louvre project, launched in January by President Emmanuel Macron, which by 2031 would notably see the Mona Lisa moved to a dedicated space beneath the Cour Carrée.
Unfortunately, on October 19, the theft of the French crown jewels under the noses of the guards and in the absence of surveillance cameras plunged the Parisian museum into a completely different maelstrom: Television crews from around the world kept their cameras trained for days on the Apollo Gallery, also located in the Denon Wing, where the heist took place. The president of the Louvre offered her resignation to the Elysée (which refused it), before being questioned by the Sénat to assess her responsibility. In the lines outside, tourists talked about nothing but the robbery.
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