Paris: What to See & Do: Museums & Galleries: Monumenta: Richard Serra at the Grand Palais

Monumenta: Richard Serra at the Grand Palais

This year’s Monumenta, a new contemporary art program launched at Paris’ Grand Palais last year, will feature American artist Richard Serra. The legendary sculptor was asked to create a new work for the Palais’ monumental nave, which covers 775,000 square feet. The resulting Promenade consists of five massive steel sculptures; each rises 56 feet into the air and weighs more than seventy tons. They are all differently angled , transforming the Palais into a brilliant spectacle of shifting shadows throughout the day. Another Serra’s work can also be viewed in the Jardin des Tuileries: Clara-Clara (named after the artist’s wife) is a piece that consists of two C-shaped steel slabs, whose curving lines are perfectly placed so that you see the Concorde’s Obelisk looking through the sculpture on one side and the Musée du Louvre on the other.

Monumenta at the Grand Palais opened on May 7 and ran through June 15, 2008. Closed Tuesday.