Following on from Jeff Koons and Xavier Veilhan, Takashi Murakami is the latest high-profile artist to commandeer the Palace of Versailles.

The exhibition will run from the 14th of September to the 12th of December this year, and we suspect that it's going to be pretty unmissable.

Here's what Murakami had to say about the work to be installed:

“For a Japanese like me, the Château de Versailles is one of the greatest symbols of Western history. It is the emblem of an ambition for elegance, sophistication and art that most of us can only dream of. Of course, we are aware that the spark that set fire to the powder of the Revolution came directly from the centre of the building. But, in many respects, everything is transmitted to us as a fantastic tale coming from a very distant kingdom.

Just as French people can find it hard to recreate in their minds an accurate image of the Samurai period, the history of this palace has become diminished for us in reality. So it is probable that the Versailles of my imagination corresponds to an exaggeration and a transformation in my mind so that it has become a kind of completely separate and unreal world.

That is what I have tried to depict in this exhibition. I am the Cheshire cat that welcomes Alice in Wonderland with its diabolic smile, and chatters away as she wanders around the Château. With a broad smile I invite you all to discover the wonderland of Versailles.”

Image credits:

Takashi MURAKAMI Oval Buddha Silver 2008
Argent - 136.5 x 80.5 x 78 cm - Courtesy Blum & Poe, Los Angeles © 2008 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.
Château de Versailles/Salon de l’Abondance © Florian Kleinefenn.

Portrait of Takashi Murakami, Artwork © Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Photo  : Kenji Yagi, Courtesy Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris & Miami.