Public Artwork
Laissez-moi travailler je me décompose (A. Breton)
The artwork is embedded into the ground floor of the great hall.
The work is integrated into the floor of the great hall, which opens up onto five floors topped by a sky dome. The ensemble features a cross made of freshwater limestone, which recalls the cross on the ceiling. The names of famous humour pioneers are engraved on the ground over two aisles featuring sixteen black granite slabs. Four of the slabs feature inlaid pictograms in white marble. These represent costumes associated with the represented characters, i.e. Aristophanes, Rabelais, Molière and Oscar Wilde. Four other slabs appear in the shape of coffins.
Aristophane (vers 450-385 av. J.-C.)
Plaute (vers 254-184 av. J.-C.)
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375)
Triboulet (XVe -XVIe siècles)
François Rabelais (vers 1490-1553)
Arlequin et Polichinelle (XVIe –XXe siècles)
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Molière (1622-1673)
William Hogarth (1697-1764)
Carlo Goldoni (1707-1797)
Honoré Daumier (1808-1879)
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)