CommissionNovember 20, 2020
French President Emmanuel Macron commissioned a permanent work by Anselm Kiefer for Le Panthéon in Paris
During the commemorations in November of the armistice of the First World War and the Centennial of the burial of the Unknown Soldier killed in the Battle of Verdon, President Macron paid tribute to the writer Maurice Genevoix. The Pantheon, a neoclassical monument located in the Latin Quarter of Paris, honors great figures in France's history and the world such as Voltaire, Jean Monnet, Marie Curie, and Emile Zolá, among others.
Maurice Genevoix, writer and witness to the war, recognized for his descriptions of war's horrors, was transferred to the Pantheon. During the ceremony of the coffin's arrival, two canvases and six cabinets by the German artist Anselm Kiefer were unveiled, which were inspired by the novel Ceux de 14 by the writer. Kiefer, who has lived in France for more than 25 years, made six glass cases to which he added phrases written by Genevoix. It is the first time contemporary art has been installed in the Pantheon in the last 100 years. During the opening, the sound work of the French musician Pascal Dusapin was heard, whose choir uses a recording of 15,000 names of soldiers who died during the war.
Maurice Genevoix, writer and witness to the war, recognized for his descriptions of war's horrors, was transferred to the Pantheon. During the ceremony of the coffin's arrival, two canvases and six cabinets by the German artist Anselm Kiefer were unveiled, which were inspired by the novel Ceux de 14 by the writer. Kiefer, who has lived in France for more than 25 years, made six glass cases to which he added phrases written by Genevoix. It is the first time contemporary art has been installed in the Pantheon in the last 100 years. During the opening, the sound work of the French musician Pascal Dusapin was heard, whose choir uses a recording of 15,000 names of soldiers who died during the war.
