Artist Jean-Michel Othoniel Turns France's City Of Popes Into City Of Love

Forbes

2 days ago

The Mariners' Portal by Jean-Michel Othoniel on Avignon Bridge is a gold and red glass arch that welcomes visitors to the city Photo OTresson / Avignon Tourisme
French art star Jean-Michel Othoniel is having a career-defining moment. With 'Othoniel Cosmos or The Ghosts of Love', the largest and most ambitious exhibition of his life, he has metamorphosed the historic papal city of Avignon in Provence into a living constellation of art, emotion and memory. Running for six months until January 4, 2026, the solo show stretches across 10 emblematic sites – from the Gothic grandeur of the Palace of the Popes and the mythic Avignon Bridge to a secret chapel and atypical museums scattered throughout the city. Featuring 270 works, including 160 never before seen, this exhibition that was two years in the making invites audiences on a multi-sensory journey that mixes sculpture, painting, scent, light, sound, dance and poetry into a lyrical universe shaped by love and transformation.
Jean-Michel Othoniel, Kokoro heart, red Murano glass, 300 x 500 cm, St. Claire chapel Photo Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle
Famous for his glistening glass bead sculptures, large-scale architectural installations and recurring themes of spirituality, desire and cosmic wonder, Othoniel has long explored beauty as both a personal and universal language. But in Avignon, his work reaches a new level of intimacy and immersion. The exhibition is a love letter: to the city, to art and to all the ghosts of love that linger in the spaces we inhabit. From a giant red Murano glass heart hidden behind a golden gate to perfume-infused fountains and a new series of ethereal, halo‑shaped sculptures that scintillate like celestial rings of light to a once-in-a-lifetime dance performance on the Cour d'Honneur stage, Othoniel invites visitors on a poetic promenade throughout Avignon. I sit down with the artist to explore the scale and soul of this monumental undertaking.
When the city of Avignon first approached you, what made you say yes to such a huge and fast-moving project?
It's so unique. I think it's the first time in France – and maybe in the world – that a city gave all its museums and historic places to one artist. That was a fantastic opportunity. Also, most of the museums are free, which I loved. I believe in making culture accessible to everyone.
Auréoles at Musée du Petit Palais – Louvre en Avignon, creation of new works in gold-painted glass by Jean-Michel Othoniel linked to the museum's collections Photo Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle
This is your biggest exhibition to date. What does that mean to you personally?
It's the right time in my life. I feel very grounded in my practice. I have energy, confidence and my own voice. I wanted to share that with a wide audience – including many people coming from abroad.
You curated the entire exhibition yourself. Why was that important?
Because it's deeply personal. You can't really ask someone else to shape your poetic vision of the world. I worked with the curators of each museum, of course, but I wanted to be the one creating the narrative.
Tell me about the brand-new works.
Some are site-specific, like those for Avignon Bridge or the Place du Palais. Others are ideas I've carried for years, just waiting for the right place and time.
Jean-Michel Othoniel, Astrolabe mobile, gilded with gold leaf, 10 meters tall, St. Benoît Cloister at Palace of the Popes Photo Nicolas Delsalle
Why the dual title: 'Othoniel Cosmos' and 'The Ghosts of Love'?
'Othoniel Cosmos' is about structure. The Palace of the Popes is like the sun, and the other venues are planets orbiting it in a constellation. 'The Ghosts of Love' speaks to the emotional core. It's inspired by Petrarch and his lifelong obsession with Laura. It's about being haunted by love – whether for a person, a city or even your first artistic emotion.
The Fountain of Delights in Murano glass, stainless steel, gold leaf and cast aluminum by Jean-Michel Othoniel created for the existing fountain in the garden of the Palace of the Popes Photo Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle
How should visitors approach the exhibition: start at one place or wander freely?
They can start anywhere, but for me, the symbolic entrance is Avignon Bridge. I see it as a door open to others, a lighthouse with its two chapels. I'm building a new bridge, as it has a missing part. I'm rebuilding it metaphorically through new crosses inspired by a local tradition whereby boatmen on the Rhône River would decorate their boats with votive crosses. Historically, the river was a vital commercial route, and these ornate crosses – unique to this region – were linked to the navigators who traveled its waters. I wanted to pay tribute to those early voyagers, who were among the first to interact with the city, by reinterpreting their crosses in a poetic and contemporary way. It's a vision of hope and connection.
In the Tower of Angels of the Palace of the Popes, the viewer is invited to walk through a forest of Murano glass Necklaces and Suspended Lover sculptures by Jean-Michel Othoniel Photo Nicolas Delsalle
How did Avignon's religious history shape the show?
Many of the venues are former chapels or sacred spaces, and that inspired a lot of the works. I'm not religious, but I explore the sacred: the sense of beauty, contemplation and connection. It's about spirituality in a broader sense.
For the first time, works are suspended from the ceiling of the largest room of the Palace of the Popes, measuring 818 sqm and 19 meters high: four Astrolabe hanging mobiles, each five meters in diameter, and an expanse of blue bricks sculpted in the shape of whirlpools on the floor Photo Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle
Tell me about the artworks in the Palace of the Popes.
That's the heart of the show. There's a massive chapel that's 800 square meters in size and 19 meters high, where I've created five monumental pieces – one on the floor, four suspended. The enormous scale interacts with the architecture. It's operatic. And on another wall, I'll show 60 of my paintings for the first time in France. They're abstract, floral, emotional – people don't know this side of my work.
On the walls of the feasting hall of the Palace of the Popes, Jean-Michel Othoniel presents 60 ink paintings on white gold leaf, variable dimensions, never before exhibited in France Photo ENoveJosserand / Avignon Tourisme
One of the most talked-about pieces is a large red heart. What's the story behind it?
It's a Murano glass heart hidden behind a golden gate in a ruined chapel. It's a tribute to that first feeling of falling in love – what we call ' coup de foudre '. You'll discover it while walking through the city. It's romantic and unexpected.
Four-meter-tall Yardang sculpture in mirror-polished stainless steel bricks by Jean-Michel Othoniel in the Ancient Chamber of the Chamberlain of the Palace of the Popes Photo Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle
There's also a multi-sensory component: fountains with perfume.
Yes! In the newly opened Bains Pommer, I've installed real fountains with water and perfume. I worked discreetly with Dior's Francis Kurkdjian to develop the scents. It's a new experience – touching not just the eyes, but sound and smell.
14 glass fountains by Jean-Michel Othoniel hidden in the 19-century Bains Pommer - Museum of Hygiene's bathing cubicles bring movement, sound and freshness to this little-known museum in Avignon Photo Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle
Your installation at the Lambert Collection feels especially personal. How does it fit into the larger narrative of the exhibition?
The Lambert Collection is where I explore the theme of abstraction in a very focused way. I worked closely with the curator to select minimalist and conceptual works from the collection that resonate with mine, and created an installation that highlights the dialog between them. For me, it's about showing how minimal art can also be sensual and generous. That was my first love – the first ghost of love, really – when I saw abstract art as a child in St. Étienne Museum. It was a shock, but a joyful one. I'm also showing some of my oldest pieces there, like my first brick from the 1980s, to trace how these ideas have been with me from the beginning.
Many of your works feel like they exist between fragility and monumentality. How do you balance those two extremes?
That tension is what interests me most. Glass is delicate, but when you scale it up, it becomes powerful, almost architectural. I love that contradiction. You can't touch it, but it touches you. It reflects your image, your surroundings, your emotions. It's like holding up a mirror to the world, but in a poetic way.
At the Lambert Collection, Jean-Michel Othoniel has gone back to his artistic roots by paying tribute to the minimalism and abstraction he was lucky enough to experience as a child at St. Etienne Museum Photo Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle
A real highlight is your collaboration with choreographer Carolyn Carlson.
Yes, it's incredibly moving. Carolyn gave her first performance in the Cour d'Honneur in the 1970s, and now at 82, she's dancing her final performance there, alongside Paris Opera Ballet stars Hugo Marchand and Caroline Osmont. She created a choreography that responds directly to my installation. It's a powerful moment – closing the circle.
With so many venues, how did you handle the logistics?
It was like a big movie production. We had 50 trucks leaving the studio to go to Avignon, almost 400 people working, and my team of 20 relocated to Avignon for a month and a half. Each piece was assembled on site. It was intense, but also beautiful.
Amber bricks made in India form a Precious Stonewall by Jean-Michel Othoniel in the Lapidary Museum of archeology: a mammoth wailing wall adorned by glass beads or spiritual mastaba Photo Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle
What was the most emotionally challenging part of the process?
Choosing which works to show and which stories to tell. This exhibition is very intimate in some ways. It's about the loves I've lost, the places I've dreamed of, the people who have inspired me. Finding the right way to share those feelings with the public was not always easy.
Do you view this exhibition as a kind of retrospective?
Not really. It's not about looking back – it's more of a culmination. Yes, there are works from different periods of my career, but this is a new chapter. It's like I've created a new language with all the vocabulary I've built over the years. There's a sense of arrival, but also of starting something bigger.
A Lotus sculpture in mirror-polished stainless steel by Jean-Michel Othoniel in the Calvet Museum interacts with the museum's collection of classical sculptures Photo Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle
If there's one message you'd like visitors to take away, what would it be?
That beauty matters. That love – whatever form it takes – is a force that moves us. I hope people leave feeling lighter, more open, more connected. If even one person is changed by this experience, then I've succeeded.
What do you hope this exhibition leaves behind both for you and for Avignon, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary as European Capital of Culture and its 30th anniversary as a UNESCO World Heritage Site this year?
We're living in difficult times. I hope this show brings joy, energy and hope to people. For Avignon, I hope it becomes a beautiful memory – just like the exhibition 'Beauty' did 25 years ago. I want the city to feel proud, to see itself anew through art.