Fantastic!

Fantastic: says what is the fruit of the imagination. So be it.

Let’s add a part of marvelous, divine, fascinating, mythological. If they are indeed the fruit of the imagination of men, it remains that, dragons, griffins, unicorns and other hybrid beasts have carved a place of choice in the beliefs and popular stories of yesterday... and even today.

Proof of this is the exhibition that the Louvre-Lens offers, which, rich in 250 works, tells the animal epic from prehistory to pop culture, and questions our relationship to these extra-ordinary beings. Sometimes sacred terrors embodying the forces of nature, sometimes protective figures or monstrous beasts. This is the phantasmagoric that makes sculpture, painting, music or film.

Better yet, the part of the journey devoted to pop culture and the resurgence of these figures across the fantasy universe speaks volumes about our contemporary aspirations to re-enchant the world. An exhibition that plays to the end the map of ambivalences since it succeeds in delighting art enthusiasts - thanks to a rich selection operated by Hélène Bouillon, director of exhibitions of the Louvre-Lens and here curator of the event- but will also fascinate the little ones with a tailor-made children’s course. As always at the Louvre-Lens, a cultural and event program will extend the theme of the exhibition. Because culture is a party... fantastic!