French artist presents 260 works across 10 historic sites in Avignon — a city once home to popes
Korea Herald correspondent
AVIGNON, France — Upon entering Calvet Museum in Avignon, France, a stainless-steel lotus installation can immediately be spotted resting quietly in the courtyard. Stepping closer, you might begin to contemplate infinity as you find yourself endlessly reflected in the mirrored beads alongside reflections of the beads themselves and the surrounding landscape.
“You see yourself thousands of times, and you see the piece also reflected by itself,” French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel said on Oct. 22.
“It’s about the idea of the micro and the macro cosmos — the universe and the planet. The show is titled ‘Cosmos,’ because it’s about contemplating the sky and the stars, but also the very small things in which you can project yourself," he added.
Othoniel’s art washes over the city of Avignon, with 260 works on view across 10 locations in the largest exhibition ever devoted to a single artist. Titled “Othoniel Cosmos or the Ghosts of Love,” the exhibition is centered at the Palais des Papes, the papal residence some 700 years ago.
Hopping over to the Requien Museum, the city's natural history museum, one can understand how the artist's installations inspired by flowers — lotuses and roses — and those reminiscent of the infinity sign have evolved.
Othoniel’s fascination with flowers is revealed in the sketches, drawings and models displayed in a room at the museum that feels like the artist's studio.
Following the works scattered throughout the city feels like going on a treasure hunt, discovering both Avignon and the stories behind Othoniel’s art. Othoniel often explores themes of love, transformation and healing by transforming materials — most famously glass, stainless steel and gold-leaf stainless steel — into luminous monumental forms.
"It was a long journey to arrive at glass, but I really love this material because it’s a material that changes form — it’s liquid and solid. I love to work with this material of metamorphosis,” the artist said.
To Othoniel, glass embodies beauty and universality, something that everybody can relate to. The year 1994 marked a turning point in his career, collaborating with glassworkers on the island of Murano, near Venice, Italy, to delve into the material that has since become his signature.
He has since collaborated with glassblowers in India and Switzerland as well, among others, each offering distinct techniques and colors, according to the artist.
“Mainly, my work is about bringing beauty, hope and enchantment into the world today — because I think it’s something we deeply need right now.
"That’s also why I love creating public artworks — they’re directly accessible to people, not confined to museums or private collections. I think it’s important to offer a larger public the chance to experience beauty and dream a little," Othoniel said.
The treasure hunt continues to Chapelle Sainte-Claire, a 14th-century chapel. Othoniel’s heart-shaped, glass-bead sculpture in bloody red, titled “Kokoro,” is devoted to the chapel where, in 1337, Italian poet Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) first saw Laura de Noves, a married noble, to whom he would devote his life. The lady's flaxen hair interwoven with beads fluttered in the wind that day, a note at the chapel reads.
Petrarch’s devotion remained purely spiritual, giving birth to the idea of “platonic love,” shaping centuries of Western romantic thought.
“I love to work on historical sites. I love to make connections with the past,” Othoniel said.
A short walk from the chapel is the Palais des Papes, where the 10-meter-high “L’Astrolabe” stands tall. Popes lived in the palace from 1309 to 1377, a period known as the Avignon Papacy, when the papal court moved from Rome under French influence.
Othoniel showcases a total of 133 pieces, including 106 new sculptures designed especially for the Palais des Papes. Visitors are guided through 15 locations and rooms inside the palace.
One of the highlights is the Grand Tinel, once used for receptions by popes, where 60 ink paintings on white gold leaf plates of various sizes, inspired by the artist’s herbarium, are on display. They have not been seen in France since the Louvre acquired the artist’s roses in white gold leaf in 2019.
“It is really a dialogue with the architecture and history of the site. I rediscover those sites and try to make them more poetic and make a sensual connection with them,” Othoniel said. “In fact, it's a poetic trip in the city.”
The artist's works are also located at a medieval bridge known as Pont Saint-Benezet, or the Bridge of Avignon, and the Bains Pommer, a museum once used as a public bath. There, 12 glass fountains curl upward in the privacy of the treatment rooms.
The citywide Avignon exhibition runs through Jan. 4, 2026. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the city being named a European Capital of Culture. It is also the 30th anniversary of its listing as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Othoniel held a solo exhibition at the Seoul Museum of Art in 2022, and in 2026 will present a project coinciding with the Busan Biennale.
yunapark@heraldcorp.com
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