iMusée de l'Orangerie · Tuileries
Contemporary Counterpoint: Vija Celmins
The museum's 17th Contemporary Counterpoint: Vija Celmins's precise studies of ocean, desert, sky and snow surfaces, made 1971-2000 in drawing, painting, printmaking and wood engraving, shown in the pronaos and contemporary gallery in dialogue with Monet's Water Lilies.
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One of the two stones in this show was picked up off the ground. The other is a bronze copy Vija Celmins painted until nobody could tell them apart, a pair called To Fix the Image in Memory XIII (1977 to 1982).
This is the museum's 17th Contemporary Counterpoint: drawings, paintings, prints and woodcuts from 1971 to 2000 of ocean, desert, sky and snow, with no horizon. Celmins calls them "impossible images". You pass her ocean surfaces in the pronaos on your way into the Water Lilies, shown beside the woodblock she printed them from. Downstairs, Night Sky #11 is a field of stars copied from astronomy-manual photographs. It's the clearest starry sky in central Paris, and it's in the basement.
No review has been published yet, so this guide doesn't judge. The formats are small and the museum asks for slow, silent looking. Entry is the €12.50 museum ticket (€10 reduced, free under 18), booked by time slot. Fridays run until 9pm at €10; closed Tuesdays.
Look for
To Fix the Image in Memory XIII
Look for a stone found on the ground next to its painted bronze double in the lower-level gallery, and try to tell which is which.
Night Sky #11 (1995)
A starry sky with no horizon covering the whole canvas, its dark paint built up in layers and sanded perfectly smooth, each star picked out with a fine brush.
A Painting in Six Parts
In the pronaos, a set of small panels lent by Glenstone Museum, each one scrutinising the same flat surface of the ocean.
The ocean woodblock
The carved wooden block behind Celmins's ocean woodcuts, shown in the pronaos alongside her prints and paintings of water.
Good for
- Evening Visits
- Going Solo
- Locals Who've Seen It All
Skip if
You want spectacle: these are small, horizonless surfaces hung for slow, silent looking.
With kids
Under-18s go free.
Also at Musée de l'Orangerie
On now nearby
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Image credits
8
- Contemporary Counterpoint: Vija CelminsVija Celmins, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery
- Stan Douglas: Parallax© Stan Douglas. Courtesy of the artist, Victoria Miro and David Zwirner
- Marie and Félix Bracquemond, Decorative Arts DrawingsMarie Bracquemond, Les muses des arts, sans date. Musée d'Orsay, Don Armel et Nicolas Jundt, 2024. © Musée d’Orsay, dist. GrandPalaisRmn
- Musée de l'OrangerieHomonihilis / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Jeu de PaumeGuilhem Vellut, CC BY 2.0
- Musée d'OrsaySuicasmo, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Grand PalaisȘtefan Jurcă / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
- Musée de l'Armée (Les Invalides)xiquinhosilva from Cacau / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0