A dispute over the Palais Garnier ceiling is moving towards legal action, with a descendant of Jules-Eugène Lenepveu seeking to uncover his original nineteenth-century painting. Marc Chagall’s later ceiling remains installed above the auditorium.
Culture minister André Malraux commissioned Chagall after deciding the older decoration needed replacement. The artist produced twenty-four large wedge-shaped canvases, installed in the nineteen-sixties over Lenepveu’s work rather than removing it.
Arnaud Carayon says years of requests have failed and has now involved a lawyer. The disagreement concerns how to present two historical artworks in one architectural space. A planned challenge does not mean the ceiling will necessarily change, but places the question of restoration and visibility into a new forum.
