Press release, 24 March 2020

The Centre des monuments nationaux presents the exhibition

Anima mundi Anne and Patrick Poirier

at Abbaye du Thoronet -

Le Thoronet Abbey

New dates to be determined

Poster of the exhibition “Anima mundi”

Press contacts: Agence Dezarts: Noalig Tanguy +33 (0)6 70 56 63 24 noalig.tanguy@dezarts.fr CMN Press Centre: Maddy Adouritz +33 (0)1 44 61 22 45 presse@monuments-nationaux.fr

Find all CMN press releases at: presse.monuments-nationaux.fr

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Press release

The Centre des monuments nationaux has invited Anne and Patrick Poirier to present the “Anima mundi” exhibition, a continuation of their work that captures

the notion of fragility and the importance of memory. At Le Thoronet Abbey, a

masterpiece of Cistercian architecture, the two artists will reawaken the memory

of the sites through artworks and installations that appeal to the senses. Displayed

along the visitor circuit, these fifteen original creations will enter into a dialogue

with the monument, its history and the role of its spaces.

Le Thoronet Abbey, built between 1160 and 1190, accommodated around thirty monks in the 13th century. For over one hundred years, the monument retained within its walls the memory of the passage, rituals, gestures and prayers of these men until it fell into decline, a process completed during the French Revolution. The restoration work, begun in the 19th century, will enable the abbey to recover its original appearance after having been used for agricultural

purposes.

Passionate about architecture and history, Anne and Patrick Poirier have exhibited in religious

buildings for many years, ranging from the Chapelle de la Salpêtrière in Paris in 1983 to their

exhibition at the Couvent de La Tourette in Eveux in 2013.

Their exhibition at Le Thoronet Abbey will give visitors the opportunity to rediscover the

remains of the abbey, where prayer, labour, reading and meditation in silence set the tempo

of monastic life.

“Our project offers the visitor to this centre of architecture and spirituality a number of works and installations scattered inside and outside the abbey. We wanted these art interventions to be discreet, unostentatious and proportionate, respectful of this place of the soul and of memory. They appeal both to the senses – hearing, sight and smell – and to memory as well as to the visitor’s spirit, and are inspired by the genius loci”.

Anne and Patrick Poirier, Lourmarin, 25 August 2019

Curator: Laure Martin

This exhibition will be the subject of a publication by Éditions du patrimoine in the

“Un artiste, un monument” collection.

La voix des Vents [The Voice of the Winds] & L’arbre aux larmes [The Tree of Tears] 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett

Cosmos 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Jean-Christophe Lett

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The exhibition

Designed especially for Le Thoronet Abbey, the fifteen works presented by Anne and Patrick Poirier will trace a subtle path between reminiscence, evocation and metaphor, accompanying

visitors as they explore the Cistercian abbey.

The public will move between interior and exterior spaces, beginning with the path leading to the former gatehouse, along which the visitor will be welcomed by La voix des vents [The Voice of the Winds], composed of gently tinkling bronze bells hanging here and there in the trees. This installation, which is repeated within the grounds of the abbey, is inspired by the couple’s memories of their trips to Nepal where, “Buddhist tradition considers these sounds to have the power to ward off evil spirits and give thanks to the gods”. At the entrance to the abbey church, the visitor will hear these tinkling sounds emanating from numerous small bells hung in the nettle tree. Randomly placed and varying in intensity, their echoes, which change

according to the power of the elements, create a sound space, an invisible frontier with the outside world.

In the enclosure next to the former tithe barn, the glass vials of L’arbe aux larmes [The Tree of Tears] installation are reminiscent in their shape of the lachrymatories used in Roman funerary rituals. They shimmer in the branches of the majestic holm oak watched by visitors sitting in the shade of its foliage while bronze bells tinkle in the wind. Before returning to the abbey church, at the bottom of the recessed fountain, below the double-flight stone staircase leading to the site of the ancient vineyards, visitors will find oversized eyes like giants’ eyes, which seem to follow them as they walk around. At several points in the circuit, visitors will come across this leitmotiv of the eye, called Du regard des statues [The Gaze of Statues], an anonymous witness to time and history, an observer of nature and of men, a mute guardian of memory and oblivion, omnipresent in the couple’s work.

In the abbey church, Oblio (Oubli) [Oblio (Oblivion)] invites the visitor to write a word, a name, a thought, a dream, a prayer on fragments of communion wafers laid out on two copper trays gilded with gold leaf, then to place them in a basin filled with water. A symbol of purification, water here becomes the ephemeral receptacle of many thoughts, the memory of which disappears as their fragile medium dissolves. On the floor, in the axis of the choir Memoria, mundi (Mémoire du monde) [Memoria, mundi (Memory of the World)] also refers to the idea of memory, a key focus in these artists’ work and embodied in the recurring motif of a schematic brain. The

carpet, in the form of an ellipse, is bordered by Latin words listing the themes indefatigably explored by Anne and Patrick Poirier: memoria, natura, anima, archeologia, utopia… woven in wool, silk and bamboo fibre, materials that absorb the light in different ways, presents a changing image of the work thus emphasising its metaphorical dimension. Echoing Memoria mundi, Reflets de l’âme [Reflections of the Soul], is a pâte de verre brain, lit from within. It stands in the axis of the high altar on an engraved, elliptical mirror, in which the sparkling reflections of its blue, pink and white shades vary like human thoughts and feelings. In the same vein, Les vibrations de l’âme [The Vibrations of the Soul] offers an allegory in sound of emotions where the musicality of two large copper gongs, placed on either side of the transept, now and again, produces an enchanting echo made sublime by the abbey’s acoustics. At the private view, Anne and Patrick Poirier will perform a composition for gongs and cello by Éric Tanguy.

Oblio 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett.

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Reflets de l’âme [Reflections of the Soul] 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett.

Les vibrations de l’âme [The Vibrations of the Soul] 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett.

Further on, the visitor will come to the abbot’s bedroom, now La chambre des rêves et de l’oubli [The Room of Dreams and Oblivion], a work inviting contemplation and meditation. In front of its one small window, a red silk taffeta hanging, embroidered with the words Sparire nel silenzio (Disappear in the Silence) and reaching down to the floor, filters the light of this intimate, austere space. From the floor, carpeted with white feathers, a rustic table emerges, on which are placed various objects: books, stuffed birds, a skull, etc, evoking the attributes of Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Jerome, as well as their love of and their interest in nature. Following this, in the monks’ dormitory, the visitor will be able to observe large drawings, arranged on desks, around each of the twenty windows, recalling the manuscripts and antiphonaries patiently drawn up and written out by the monks, in particular the “very rich hours” of the Middle Ages. The contrast between the coloured intensity of the motifs and the sombre, dramatic even, content of the words, reveals, to anyone who knows how to look and takes the time to look, the relevance of the questions and fears that lie within Les chants du désespoir [The Songs of Despair], a work with all the visionary hallmarks of Anne and Patrick Poirier.

La chamber des rêves et de l’oubli [The Room of Dreams and Oblivion] 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett.

Les chants du désespoir [The Songs of Despair] 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett

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Once outside, a large schematic brain in the centre of the cloister, formed of pebbles of white Carrara marble, recalls those displayed in the abbey church. Visible both from the upper

walkway and the level of the cloister galleries, the installation Anima mundi (L’âme du monde) [Anima mundi (The Soul of the World)] is striking in its monumentality and its perfect integration in the space bordered by boxwood, the contours of the brain outlining a luminous mineral garden. Close to the sacristy, placed directly on the floor of the Armarium, where the books were kept, a block of stone gilded with gold leaf, found in an ancient stream that ran at the foot of the abbey, is topped with a sphere of lazurite suggesting the pupil of a giant eye. This sculpture with its contrasting forms and assured refinement, titled Cosmos (L’univers) [Cosmos (The Universe)], refers to the mystery and wealth of the world.

Visitors will continue to travel in time with Archè (L’origine) [Archè (The Origin)], which reveals

a marble eye. Emerging from a thick carpet of plants picked from under the trees in the

neighbouring forest, as if unearthed from an excavation site, it expresses the idea of a distant,

forgotten past, of which the Poiriers are the archaeologists. Walking around the cloister area,

the visitor will find Du regard des statues [The Gaze of Statues], in the lavabo where the monks

once washed, as if following one of the invisible themes of the circuit created by the artists.

At the bottom of the basin, in the crystal-clear murmuring of the fountain, the huge eyes seem

to follow the visitor as if conveying mute messages.

Returning to the monument, and into the cellar, the visitor will find the last installation, an

olfactory work, Le chant de la terre [The Song of the Land], which, through its aroma of grape harvests, crushed grapes, recalls the original function of the site, while also evoking the

symbolism of wine in the Christian religion.

Le Thoronet Abbey © Paloma Barret - CMN Cloister of Le Thoronet Abbey © Paloma Barret -

CMN

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Biographies of Anne and Patrick Poirier

Anne and Patrick Poirier at Le Thoronet Abbey, 2019 © Ambroise Tézenas – Centre des monuments nationaux

After studying at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris, Anne and Patrick spent four years at the Villa Medici in Rome. Right from the beginning of their stay, in 1968,

they decided to work together. Setting aside their respective egos, they combined their ideas,

their sensibilities and their works, signed by both, were the fruits of this common effort. They

were no longer solitary artists working in their own studios in search of a personal language,

but travellers, site surveyors, discoverers of different civilisations, religions and cultures (East,

Middle East, Central America, United States, etc.). Rejecting the conventional roles of sculptor

and painter, instead, they assumed those of archaeologist and architect that are

interchangeable according to the circumstances. The question was no longer one of formal

research but, through an artistic approach grounded in the humanities, one of a voyage through

memory, which they considered a fundamental, the basis of any understanding between human

beings and societies. As children of the war, (born respectively in 1941 and 1942), they reveal

the fragility of civilisations and cultures, and their aesthetic is often one of fragment, ruin and

catastrophe. For over fifty years they have developed a polymorphous and visionary body of

work.

Personal exhibitions : Neue Galerie-Sammlung Ludwig, Aix-la-Chapelle (1973); Neuer Berliner

Kunstverein, Berlin (1977); CAPC, Bordeaux (1977); Musée national d’art moderne Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1978); Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (1978); MoMA, New York

(1978); Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (1978); PS1, New York (1980); Autumn Festival, Chapelle

Saint-Louis de la Salpêtrière, Paris (1983); Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (1983); The

Brooklyn Museum, New York (1984); Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich (1988),

Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna (1994); Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne (1999);

The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (1999-2000); CREDAC, Ivry-sur-Seine (2001); La

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Verrière, Brussels (2004); Festival d’Avignon, Chapelle Saint-Charles, Avignon (2009); Couvent

de la Tourette, Eveux (2013); Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes (2014); Musée d’art moderne et

contemporain Saint-Etienne Métropole, Saint-Priest-en-Jarez (2016-2017), Skulpturenpark

Waldfrieden, Cragg Foundation, Wuppertal (2016-2017), Maison européenne de la

photographie, Paris (2017), De Pont Museum, Tilburg (2018-2019), Villa Medici, Rome (2019).

Group shows : Biennale des Jeunes, Paris (1973); Venice Biennale (1976, 1980, 1984);

documenta 6, Kassel (1977); Istanbul Biennale (1989); Vienna Festival (1991); Lyon Biennale

(2000); Busan Biennale (2002); Buenos-Aires Biennale (2002); Valencia Biennale (2003); Havana

Biennale (2006); Echigo-Tsumari Triennial, Japan (2015);  Carambolages, Grand Palais, Paris

(2016), FutuRuins, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Italy (2018-2019), Eldorama, Tri Postal, Lille (2019),

Homer, Louvre-Lens, Lens (2019).

Their works can be found in public and private collections throughout the world.

In France, they are represented by the Galerie Mitterrand, and in Italy by la Galleria Fumagalli.

Since the loss of their only son Alain-Guillaume in 2002, Anne and Patrick Poirier live and work in

Lourmarin in Provence.

The exhibition has the financial support of the Galerie Mitterrand, Paris and Laura Skoler, New York.

Exhibitions by Anne and Patrick Poirier in Provence (new dates to be determined):

- Anne and Patrick Poirier. Mnémosyne, at the Château La Coste, Le Puy Sainte-Réparade

– www.chateau-la-coste.com

- Anne and Patrick Poirier. Errances, at the Domaine du Muy, Le Muy –

www.domainedumuy.com

- Ulysse, Voyage dans une Méditerranée de légendes – Ulysses, journey into a Mediterranean

of legends (collective exhibition), at the Hôtel Départemental des Expositions du Var, Draguignan – www.hdevar.fr

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Visuals available to the press

1. Memoria Mundi. 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick Poirier. Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett

2. Reflets de l’âme [Reflections of the Soul]. 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean- Christophe Lett

3. Les vibrations de l’âme [The Vibrations of the Soul]. 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett

4. Les vibrations de l’âme [The Vibrations of the Soul].2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett

5. La chambre de rêves et de l’oubli [The Room of Dreams

and Oblivion]. 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris.

© Anne & Patrick. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett

6. Oblio. 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne

& Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett

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7. Oblio. 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean- Christophe Lett

8. La voix du vent [The Voice of the Winds] and L’arbre aux larmes [The Tree of Tears]. 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett

9. Les chants du désespoir [The Songs of Despair]. 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett

10. Les chants du désespoir [The Songs of Despair]. 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett

11. Cosmos. 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris.

© Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-

Christophe Lett

12. The Studio of Anne & Patrick Poirier at

Lourmarin, 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris.

© Anne &Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-

Christophe Lett

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13. Le Thoronet Abbey © Paloma Barret - CMN

15. Anne and Patrick Poirier at Le Thoronet Abbey, 2019 © Ambroise Tézenas – CMN

14. The Cloister of Le Thoronet Abbey © Paloma Barret – CMN

16. The Abbey Church of Le Thoronet Abbey © Paloma Barret – CMN

17. The Abbey Church of Le Thoronet Abbey © Paloma Barret

- CMN

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Le Thoronet Abbey

Founded by Cistercian monks

deep in the forests of Provence,

Le Thoronet Abbey was built between 1160 and 1190, and

completed in 1250. It is a

Romanesque architectural

complex with characteristic

Cistercian architecture: purity

of line, simplicity of internal

space, harmonious proportions.

Le Thoronet Abbey is one of

the three Cistercian abbeys in

Provence, along with those of

Silvacane and Sénanque.

In the 13th century, around thirty monks lived in the abbey. However, less than two centuries

later, it had begun to decline. Suppressed in the French Revolution, the abbey was sold as a

national property to private owners who used it for farming.

In the 19th century, the abbey enjoyed the keen interest of scholars and men of letters, Prosper

Mérimée in particular who included it on the first list of historic monuments in 1840. Starting

in 1854, the State progressively began to buy back the site. Thanks to major restoration work

and archaeological excavation campaigns it gradually recovered its original appearance.

Le Thoronet abbey became established as a

model of the concept of spatial layout, light and

the relationship with nature. Many great

architects (Le Corbusier, Fernand Pouillon, John

Pawson, etc) have found inspiration for their

creations in its architecture.

The abbey is also an important venue for

musical events and many vocal ensembles

perform here every year.

The site is managed by the Centre des

monuments nationaux, which ensures its conservation, organises events and keeps it

open to the public. Le Thoronet Abbey

welcomed 96,226 visitors in 2019.Le Thoronet Abbey © Marc Tulane

Abbaye du Thoronet © Marc Tulane

Le Thoronet Abbey © Dominique Grandemange

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Practical information

Le Thoronet Abbey 83340 Le Thoronet

+33 (0)4 94 60 43 96

www.le-thoronet.fr

Opening hours

Open daily

1 October to 31 March: 10am – 1pm / 2pm – 5pm 1 April to 30 September: 10am – 6.30pm

Last tickets sold 30 mins before the monument closes.

Closed

1 January, 1 May, 1 and 11 November, 25 December

Prices

Individual: €8

Group rate: €6.50

Schools rate: €30

Free admission Under 18s (with their family and excluding school groups)

18-25-year-olds (EU citizens and non-EU citizens who are long-term residents of an EU country)

1st Sunday of the month from January to March and November to December

Disabled visitor and one accompanying person

Job seekers (upon presentation of proof, valid within the last 6 months), visitors in receipt of tax

credits or benefits

Journalists

Access

By car: From Aix-en-Provence: A8, exit no.35 Le Cannet des Maures or N7 to Cannet des

Maures, then D 79 to Abbaye du Thoronet. / From Cannes: A8, exit at Le Cannet des Maures,

N7 to Fréjus then immediately take D17 to l’Abbaye du Thoronet and D79 (tunnel with a

height limit of 4 metres).

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CMN in short The archaeological sites of Glanum and Carnac, the abbeys of Montmajour and Mont-Saint-Michel, the Château d’If and the Château

d'Azay-le-Rideau, the ramparts of Carcassonne, the Arc de Triomphe, the Villa Savoye and the Villa Cavrois are just some of the

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The monuments that benefit from this system enable cultural and scientific initiatives to be conducted within the entire network of

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