Eva Jospin Speaks to the Magic of the Secret Gardens of Versailles

This summer in Versailles, artist Eva Jospin is showcasing her mesmerizing Silk Room at the historic Orangery, currently on view through September 29. The immense work of embroidery was originally debuted with Dior Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri as part of the luminous fall/winter 2020-21 haute couture runway presentation at Musée Rodin in Paris. 

In close partnership with the revered Dior Parfums, the radiant exhibition marks the first contemporary work to be shown at the Versailles. Spanning some 350 ft, the sweeping artwork summons visitors to bask in the space’s ethereal architecture and delight in the Orangery’s little-seen summertime beauty at full bloom. In celebration of the legendary show, Dior Parfums has launched a vivacious fragrance collaboration alongside Jospin. The special edition Miss Dior vessel is newly realized with nature-inspired flair, ushering in a stunning reinterpretation of the legacy of Dior Parfums by the artist. Echoing the beguiling groves and gardens of the Palace, the scent transports with notes of rose, wood, mandarin, and jasmine. Whitewall had the opportunity to sit down with the artist while in Veresailles and speak with her about the near-mythical energy of the castle, a healthy obsession with architectural folly, and offering the public a once-in-a-lifetime stroll inside a secret Versailles. 

WHITEWALL: Can you share the inspiration behind your exhibition at Versailles Castle and how the historic setting influenced your creative process?

EVA JOSPIN: Originally, this work, Chambre de Soie, was displayed for a fashion show at Musée Rodin in July 2021. It was not as big as today because I created two new panels of embroidery, especially for this exhibition. It was in a way ironic because a fashion show is a very crazy moment, but very short. And we know that there were some parties here in Versailles with incredible energy and decoration, but it was also a very short time. 

Finally, the last panel of my first project in 2021 already had a reference to Versailles, without knowing I would come here today. So it’s very incredible.

Versailles as the Most Enchanting Architectural Folly

WW: How does the grandeur and history of Versailles resonate with your work, particularly your exploration of nature and landscape?

EJ: It resonates in a very deep way because I’m obsessed with architectural folly, and the big influences for me with gardens and architectural folly are more the baroque gardens. In a way, Versailles is not a baroque garden, even though one of the panels of the embroidery is inspired by an engraving of a garden that was destroyed. So it has an influence. 

For me, Versailles is the biggest folly. It’s really something that was completely out of scale, out of time and money. It is also an architectural folly because the garden is completely designed as a vision of the architect, because Le Nôtre was someone who was controlling nature. 

Sometimes we compare French gardens to English gardens. I think it’s not very important to compare because I love English gardens, too. But this project at Versailles is very special and very beautiful because you don’t have so many places like this that goes so far in the craziness.

Eva Jospin Explores Both the Miniature and the Monumental 

WW: You’ve been able to experience different materials and sizes while working with Dior, in particular for the Couture show that we already mentioned, and also for the set for the Minimale perfume, did that help your experience having diversity?

EJ: It’s very natural to me because, since the beginning, I’ve really loved to work with the monumental, but I always breathe details, and, in a way, the miniature is in my monumental. It’s always working on two scales at the same time. 

Here it’s embroidery, but when it’s a cardboard sculpture, it can be 24 meters long or 10 meters high. But then you will discover a leaf, a small branch—everything is detailed. It’s always this strange relation with monumental scale and the signature that is really my interest. 

It’s very nice for me tonight because we will show this embroidery that has been open to the public since mid-June. But at the same time for the guests tonight, the trunk we did for Miss Dior perfume is a particular of this gigantic embroidery. So you have the two scales I like to work with.

Opening the Door to a Lost Versailles through Art

WW: Are there specific themes or narrative that you’re exploring in this exhibition that you’re particularly connected to the history and the mythology of Versailles?

EJ: There are three. Actually, there are two references to Versailles, but in a way, three, because there’s also Hubert Robert, who was not at the beginning of Versailles, but was important for some time. 

I had two ideas in my head when I thought of this exhibition. First, it was to talk about a Versailles that doesn’t exist anymore. To say something very easy, very evident, is that a garden is always contemporary. A garden is always today. It’s not like architecture. Every time, every season, it will regrow, or not. This is the idea: that there’s no permanency in a garden. 

I also wanted to work on the engraving of a lost Versailles, so the grotte de Thétis or the Labyrinth of Versailles that doesn’t exist anymore. There are two things that are common for me in embroidery, but also for this. The crazy project of the castle and the garden is that everything starts from a drawing. Sometimes, before photography, the only testimony that you have from a lost place is a drawing. I was really happy to take this as a start.

For me, embroidery also starts with a drawing. I will first draw all the projects and then colorize all the projects, and then start working with the embroiderer. Without a drawing, there is no embroidery. It was really this importance of the way, very simply, your hand can translate your mind, just with a paper and a pencil.

“Our hand can translate your mind, just with a paper and a pencil,”

— Eva Jospin

WW: What emotions or reflections do you hope to evoke in visitors who experience your work in Versailles?

EJ: I would like the visitors to do this: to wander around and to discover this incredible place.  The specificity of the Orangery is that it’s most of the time completely closed to the public because you have the trees inside during the winter. During the summer, most of the time it’s not open. It’s a secret Versailles, actually. 

For me, it was very strong to propose a new contemporary project after several projects in Versailles that were really striking. Also to offer the public to discover something that they haven’t seen. The architecture is absolutely incredible. At the end of the architecture, we have a Bernese sculpture. Also this one, most of the time, no one can see it because it’s closed.

WW: How has this experience in Versailles influenced your future artistic project or the evolution of your work?

EJ: On a personal level I’m very proud because I know that things are changing very, very quickly. But I’m only the second female artist shown in the castle.