I remember hearing about this project as it was so radical at the time but had only seen photographs of it till now.
Can you imagine going to meet the French President and encountering this at the Elysée Palace?
The room is now housed in its entirety at the Pompidou Centre in Paris and it’s certainly impressive.
Designed by Yaacov Agam and installed in 1972-74 as part of the private apartments in the Elysée Palace for French President Georges Pompidou, it was removed by his successor Valéry Giscard D’Estaing, whose taste was unsurprisingly more conservative. It was finally donated to the museum in 2000.
The private apartments, decorated to the President’s personal taste, were a showcase for his love of contemporary art.
It’s very much of its time and gorgeously over the top.
Can you see in the reflected sphere how what look like random shapes on the walls are actually geometric forms?
There’s just so much to look at – 15-20 minutes wasn’t nearly long enough.