Versailles à Morellet

From 30 June
to 1 November 2026

Château de Versailles

Place d’Armes
78000 Versailles

As part of “100 x Morellet,” marking the centenary of François Morellet’s birth, the Château de Versailles presents six major works by the artist, in dialogue with the State Apartments and the garden’s perspectives.

Morellet’s geometric rigour
tested against Baroque decor

François Morellet often confronted his minimalist protocols with spectacular architecture. At the Château de Versailles, the centenary of his birth is an opportunity to present several major pieces, imagining the unexpected shifts and echoes they provoke against the splendour of the setting.

At the start of the visitor route, in line with the Royal Chapel, the dialogue opens with two of the artist’s celebrated installations: Le Lamentable, whose arc of neon lights slumps onto the paving of the chapel’s lower vestibule, and the black sculpture Beaming π, which unfolds its segments – at angles determined by the digits of π – across the marble marquetry of the nave.

Other works appear in the King’s State Apartment, where the abundance of Baroque decor makes their geometric rigour all the more striking: the Sphère-trame, emblematic of the artist’s work, suspended in the Salon de l’Abondance, and the monumental Super Position, which restores, in highly abstract form, the missing throne on the dais of the Salon d’Apollon.

In the gardens, a double installation takes its place at the heart of the Bosquet des Bains d’Apollon, in dialogue with the English-style nature designed by Hubert Robert.

Beaming π by François Morellet in the Royal Chapel of the Château de Versailles, "Versailles à Morellet" exhibition.

The artwork Beaming π, by François Morellet, on display in the Royal Chapel
© EPV / Thomas Garnier

In his relentless inquiry into the order and disorder of the world, François Morellet joins the philosophical themes of the Grand Siècle. This is why the participation of the Château de Versailles in celebrating this magnificent centenary, alongside the Centre Pompidou and all the partners united by remembrance and admiration, comes naturally.

Laurent Salomé, director of the national museums of the Château de Versailles and Trianon

“100 x Morellet,”
a National Tribute to the Artist

Echoing the retrospective François Morellet. 100 pour cent, presented at the Centre Pompidou-Metz until 28 September 2026, a vast national programme has been initiated by the Centre Pompidou, in collaboration with the Studio Morellet, the Kamel Mennour gallery and numerous partner institutions.

Unfolding across France through unprecedented installations, rediscoveries of works and a series of talks and encounters, the project aims to re-examine Morellet’s legacy, his place in art history and the influence he continues to exert on contemporary artists, an artist whose works already number more than a hundred across French public space, on building facades, in gardens, stations and squares.