This summer in Versailles, visionary artist Eva Jospin unveiled her mesmerizing Silk Room at the historic Orangery, currently on view through September 29. The tremendous work of embroidery was originally debuted with Dior Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri as part of the dynamic fall/winter 2020-21 haute couture runway presentation at Musée Rodin in Paris. In partnership with the esteemed Dior Parfums, the must-see exhibition marks the first contemporary work to be shown at the Palace. Spanning some 350 ft, the panoramic artwork beckons visitors to bask in the space’s otherworldly architecture and revel in the Orangery’s singular summertime charm. In celebration of the momentous show, Dior Parfums has launched a jubilant fragrance collaboration alongside Jospin.
Portrait of Eva Jospin at the Versailles exhibition, © Pierre Mouton, courtesy the artist and Dior Parfums.
Eva Jospin Evolves a Long-Standing Artistic Practice Dedicated to Nature
The Paris-born artist has been exploring an immersive forest and architectural panoramas on a range of media for nearly 15 years, skillfully developing ink sketches, works of embroidery, as well as bronze and cardboard sculptures all reminiscent of glorious sights such as Italian baroque gardens and 18th-century oases.
Her standout installations and commissions include Panorama (2016) within the Cour Carrée at the Louvre Museum and Cénotaphe (2020) in Montmajour Abbey. Awe-inspiring permanent works abound, like Microclima (2022), a magical garden in Milan’s Piazza del Liberty. This year, Jopsin will debut stirring new exhibitions at the Museo Fortuny in Venice and GALLERIA CONTINUA in Paris.
Eva Jospin Exhibition at Versailles, © Pierre Mouton, courtesy the artist and Dior Parfums.
Inspired by Palazzo Colonna and Virginia Woolf, a Collaborative Masterpiece Unfolds
Deeply energized by the noble Indian-inspired Embroidery Room within Rome’s Palazzo Colonna—which the artist first encountered in 2016 during a residence at Villa Medici—as well as English writer Virginia Woolf’s meditative, feminist essay A Room of One’s Own, Jospin’s masterpiece was created in close collaboration with the skilled artisans of Mumbai’s Chanakya School of Craft and Chanakya Workshop.
With her signature reverence for the wonders of architecture and the pleasures of roaming through Mother Earth’s bounty, an intricate black ink drawing by Jospin was transformed into a sweeping installation that conjures a 19th-century landscape design.
Over 400 hues of cotton, silk, and jute skeins make up the transcendent piece, a vibrant color palette conceived with masterful textile restorer Stéphanie Ovide. Through prismatic forests, winding branches, and haunting mineral formations, the tour de force is in rich conversation with today’s verdant gardens of Versailles—as well as evoking the mythical Labyrinth Grove which was dismantled in the 18th century.
Eva Jospin Exhibition and Limited-Edition Miss Dior Fragrance at Versailles, © Pierre Mouton for Christian Dior Parfums, courtesy of artist and Dior Parfums.
A New Linear Configuration Opens an Ethereal Promenade at Versailles
Newly revealed at Versailles an expansive linear formation, as the artwork took on a U-shape at the Dior runway show, visitors are encouraged to voyage through the installation as if entering into an ethereal promenade.
Two additional panels of embroidery enhance the exhibition with lush imagery juxtaposing flora and fauna with theatrical and symbolic expression. Here, a singular dialogue is sparked with Hubert Robert’s Apollo’s Baths Grove, redesigned in the 18th century, honoring the virtuous realm of the garden in our world, and its ability to enchant all ages.
Jospin applies to fabrics the same far-reaching imagination she brings to her trademark cardboard installations, invigorated by Edouard Vuillard’s unparalleled paintings which invoked the weavings of garments in canvases. Here, Jospin carries the shades and textures of the garden to her embroidery, creating a dreamlike realm where reality and illusion become one.
The Limited-Edition Miss Dior Fragrance with Eva Jospin Blossoms
This summer’s special edition Miss Dior fragrance set includes a limited-edition perfume (only 150 have been produced) encased in a floral embroidered trunk designed by Jospin herself. The vessel’s signature bow is newly realized with nature-inspired flair, ushering in a stunning reinterpretation of the legacy of Dior Parfums by the artist. Echoing the enduring dazzle of the groves and gardens of Versailles, the intoxicating scent is brimming with notes of rose, wood, mandarin, and jasmine.
Eva Jospin Exhibition at Versailles, © Pierre Mouton, courtesy the artist and Dior Parfums.
