Petanque Boules used in a Louvre exhibition

The Louvre invited eleven artists to create works for it’s Richelieu sculpture wing in a third in its series of “Contrepoint” exhibitions. The statues are beautifully displayed in a courtyard filled with natural light from a glass-covered roof.

While some of the contemporary adaptations stand on their own without commenting much on the older work around them, others reflect and react to the Louvre’s collection in an illuminating way that opens our eyes to pieces we might have walked past without noticing.

Didier Trenet has decorated Corradini’s “Veiled Woman” with a watery cage made of copper tubing, beneath a metal can, with petanque boules pouring forth from a piece he has called: Douce Duche (“soft shower”).

The show admirably accomplishes its goal of getting us to give the Louvre a second look.