Marie Gicquel, edited by Laura Laplaud 3:34 p.m., May 24, 2022

As part of Lille 3000 - and its Utopia season - the Palais des Beaux-Arts in the northern capital presents its exhibition "La Forêt Magique" until September 19 in partnership with Europe 1. On the program: enchantment and relaxation but the he exhibition also wishes to deliver an ecological message.

The contrast is striking: on the floors of this 18th century Palace, the atmosphere is calm, almost sacred.

Sculptures by Rodin, paintings by Delacroix and Courbet.

However, if you venture into the basement of this museum, one of the largest in France, the sounds of birds and wind in the leaves.

Welcome to "The Magic Forest".

"We are still discovering a lot of things about trees, considered as living beings, endowed with language, which communicate. It is another population than us, which must be respected", explains one of the commissioners Régis Cotentin, responsible of the Contemporary Art Department at the Palace of Fine Arts.

Sculptures, tree trunks and paintings with rural scenes

The exhibition also wishes to deliver an ecological message.

"The exhibition invites reflection, that on global deforestation, these lacerations of tropical forests, this exhibition also invites us to respect this environment", specifies the curator.

The space has been thought of as a forest since the light is dimmed, the atmosphere is fresh, "you could almost bring your picnic", he jokes.

"When we set up the exhibition, the technicians felt good there. And that's an unmistakable sign! It's an exhibition that, I think, makes people happy," he continues.

>> Find Europe Matin in replay and podcast here

On the walls: paintings by Gustave Moreau, Auguste Morisot or Gustave Doré.

"We wanted to show an artistic ecosystem to reflect the ecosystem of the forest", says Régis Cotentin.

From peaceful, disturbing forests to mythological creatures.

"This question of the walk in the forest, which can be just as much an enchantment as a fear, brings us back to childhood, to the tale that is implicit in this exhibition", explains Bruno Girveau, the director of the Palace of Fine Arts.

Video games, film extracts… and an immersive experience

To operate this return to childhood, the curator of the exhibition also presents photo boards of certain films:

Sleeping Beauty

,

Harry Potter

or

The Lord of the Rings

.

But also video games whose plot takes place in the woods.

However, the route also offers an immersive experience thanks to the work

Pleasant Places

by the artist Quayola: a video installation of 170 square meters in 360°.

Inside this room-work, images of the forest, in full motion.