This is what we call an outcry. The announcement by the President of the Republic to lend the famous Bayeux Tapestry to England sparked a real outcry in the Landerneau museum, which denounced an authoritarian project endangering an already fragile work. On the other side of the Channel, the idea was on the contrary welcomed with fervor since the thousand-year-old embroidery represents the conquest of England by the Duke of Normandy in 1066: quite a symbol. Presenting this historic monument to our former hereditary enemies, never lent to anyone, is indeed a meaningful gesture of friendship. A “diplomatic instrumentalization” protest the detractors who are indignant at yet another act of the prince. This is in fact not the first time that an icon has unwillingly become a luxury ambassador, at the heart of a standoff between politicians and experts.
Soft power
Until the end of the 19th century, it was simple: to admire a masterpiece, you had to go to where it was kept. But with the growth of transport, everything changes, and the loan of emblematic works to major international exhibitions becomes an essential tool of soft power. Culture is then increasingly involved in geopolitics. Alongside traditional exhibitions, traveling exhibitions are being developed aimed at promoting the culture of a country. They generate memorable projects, absolutely impossible to redo today, like “Italian art 1200-1900” in 1930, in London. A river exhibition wanted by Mussolini himself which brings together the cream of the crop. Already at the time, and despite the despotic figure that the Duce represents, dissonant voices were heard on the cost, but above all on the danger of transporting these priceless jewels. History proved the Cassandras right because the ship which transported, among others, Da Vinci, Botticelli and Donatello, almost sank due to a Dantesque storm. It is also from this episode that the practice of distributing works in different convoys dates to limit damage in the event of an accident. These exhibitions of national art were immensely successful until the Second World War, then gave way in the 1960s to projects centered on the ostentation of a masterpiece. Against the backdrop of the Cold War and competition in the artistic field, General de Gaulle’s France was particularly proactive in this register. His right-hand man, André Malraux, even makes him a spearhead of his policy, and receives regular criticism from the conservatives.
Venus unleashes the crowds
In 1964, a few months before the Tokyo Olympics, the Venus de Milo leaves France for the first time. Head to the Ueno Museum, then that of Kyoto. In two and a half months, it attracted 1.7 million people; a record crowd generating endless queues. Witnesses also say that the human tide inside the museums is so compact that it causes drops of condensation on the statue! Originally, the idea was to pay homage to ancient Greece, as is traditionally the case during the Olympics, but in reality, this operation turned into an exaltation of France. A tricolor flag is installed in the room while the surrounding streets are decorated in blue, white and red. Malraux, still in spirit, congratulates himself before the National Assembly: “It is perhaps unfortunate to send the Venus de Milo to Tokyo, but, after all, if we had a gold medal on the last day of the Games, we surely had a diamond medal for four months, because there were still 4 million Japanese people to go see the French flag. » Unfortunate, to say the least, because this movement carried out against the wishes of the Louvre Museum caused the work to suffer, which was damaged and had to be restored in Japan by marble workers urgently dispatched to repair its plaster joints. A damage which fortunately confirmed the idea that the beauty should no longer move.
Freedom goes around the world
Scientists sometimes win their cases in these unequal duels. In 2014, Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign Affairs, wanted to send to China Liberty leading the people by Eugène Delacroix to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the recognition of the People’s Republic. The Louvre vigorously opposes this because the canvas is too fragile. His supervisory ministry judiciously supports his arguments, just like François Hollande who has the duty to decide in the last instance. But the table has not always been so lucky, even though since 1958, it has been subject to an absolute limitation on movement, unhooking and hanging, and a recommendation to ban loans. These recommendations did not prevent the multiple peregrinations of this immense canvas presenting alterations from the time of Delacroix. Freedom… visited the United States, Strasbourg, but also Lens. His most incredible expedition remains his stay in Japan. In 1999, to close the France-Japan year, Jacques Chirac unilaterally decided to send this fabulous emissary there. This is not an easy task because the work measures 2.60 m by 3.25 and requires a means of transport to match its size. It takes place aboard the Beluga, the Airbus supercargo designed to transport aircraft spare parts from one factory to another. One problem, however: its hold is not pressurized or air-conditioned, which endangers the paintwork. No problem: we fit a box for it, modeled on those used for scuba diving, limiting vibrations and climatic variations, and we equip the cabin with giant radiators. Proud of this feat, the transport organizers flocked the fuselage with a gigantic reproduction of the painting. However, the plane which has a reduced fuel autonomy must make a stopover in Bahrain and India, two countries where it is impossible to show off Marianne’s colossal breasts. In order to avoid any diplomatic incident, the revolutionary’s chest was therefore hidden using huge adhesive strips during these technical stops.
Monna travels first
Among the most coveted works, it is obviously the most famous painting in the world which holds the record for controversial diplomatic trips. In 1962, Malraux decided to send The Mona Lisa in the United States to warm up damaged Franco-American relations and restore the image of France. The Minister of Cultural Affairs has absolutely no idea of the outcry he will trigger among the curators of the Louvre, several of whom are even putting their resignation in the balance, nor the hostile reaction of public opinion. Despite the alarmist report from the French Museums Laboratory, he persisted and escorted the charming ambassador in conditions worthy of a head of state. Having been unable to prevent this transport, scientists are trying to guarantee its security as best as possible by imagining an insulated and unsinkable safe. This caisson solemnly boarded the famous liner France, in first class, monitored by an armed escort. Once she arrives safely, she continues her journey in an armored and air-conditioned truck, supervised by the secret services. His presentation is a triumph, John Fitzgerald Kennedy thanks France, “the greatest artistic power in the world”while Malraux launches into a lyrical speech of which he has the secret. The writer tackles “sorrowful spirits” who exaggerated “the risks incurred by this painting”. Before putting these perils into perspective, which are paltry, compared to those “taken by the guys who landed one day in Arromanches”. Despite the indignation aroused by this expedition, Monna Lisa hit the road again in 1974. This time heading to Japan, where she was welcomed like a rock star with more than 1.5 million people crowding behind her bulletproof device. But she is taken hostage on the return flight… The plane which brings her back to Paris is in fact forced by the USSR to make a stopover in Moscow for a surprise, and forced, exhibition at the Pushkin Museum. The Soviets, at odds with Japan, did not appreciate this highly symbolic loan and put pressure on it by blocking its air corridor. A month later, she returned to the Louvre, to the great relief of the curators who fitted her with protective glass and decreed that she could no longer move. For the time being, this opinion has been respected since the various requests have always been rejected. Including the friendly mobilization of RC Lens supporters who, in 2018, invited him to come and visit them through the unexpected means of a huge “tifo” reproducing the famous portrait.
