L’Arbre de vie – Joana Vasconcelos at the Sainte-Chapelle of the Château de Vincennes

From 28 April to 3 September 2023, the French-Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos is taking over the Sainte-Chapelle of the Château de Vincennes with her Arbre de Vie.

This installation was inaugurated on 27 April by Joana Vasconcelos, Rima Abdul Malak, the French Minister of Culture, João Gomes Cravinho, the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Delphine Samsoen, Interim President of the CMN and Erol Ok, Director General of the Institut français.

Published on 24/05/2023

2 min

To create this piece, Vasconcelos drew inspiration from the mythological figure of Daphne, who turned herself into a laurel tree to escape Apollo, as well as the history of the Château de Vincennes. Queen Catherine de’ Medici, the widow of Henry II, continued work on the Sainte-Chapelle and the grounds of the château, where she had three thousand elms planted.

The installation stands at 13 metres tall and features nearly 110,000 black, red and gold leaves, all of which were embroidered and woven by hand in the artist’s studios.

© Didier Plowy
De gauche à droite, João Gomes Cravinho, ministre des Affaires étrangères du Portugal, Manuela Júdice, commissaire générale pour le Portugal de la Saison France-Portugal 2022, Joana Vasconcelos, Rima Abdul Malak, ministre de la Culture française, Delphine Samsoen, présidente par intérim du CMN et José-Augusto Duarte, Ambassadeur du Portugal en France

This project, initially designed as part of the France-Portugal 2022 Season, is supported by its Committee of Patrons chaired by Jean Lemierre, Chairman of the Board of Directors of BNP Paribas, and composed of BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole S.A., Inetum, TotalEnergies Foundation, VINCI Airports, LVMH, Saint-Gobain, Euronext, AR France Invest, Banque BCP and the Engie Foundation.