Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde (bottom left corner), Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde, and Louis-Hector Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliette Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov I present you each of the five panels below counter-clockwise – starting with the Eiffel Tower, Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake (center bottom), and Adolphe Adam’s Giselle (above) In his own unique, colourful and dreamy tones, the artist paid tribute to some of the great works of opera and ballet in history, along with famous landmarks in Paris. As a result, Chagall “ had to work in secret, in a workshop of the Gobelins neighborhood, before being assembled in Meudon under military protection.” Also in facing the opposition, it was conceded that the original ceiling – by Jules Eugène Lenepveu – be preserved, and the new ceiling is made of a 240m² removable canvas stretching above it. Nevertheless, Chagall’s ceiling was inaugurated on September 23rd, 1964. Whose appointment at the time received fierce criticisms. The stage is the largest in Europe, accommodating up to 450 artists.Īnd the ceiling, was painted by… none other than…Marc Chagall 🙂 So when I heard that the Russian-born artist of Belarusian Jewish origin painted the ceiling of the famous opera house in Paris, and that Juan Diego Flórez – a Peruvian tenor who received his country’s highest decoration at the age of 31 – would be performing a recital at Palais Garnier during the time of our visit, I did not waste any time in acquiring a ticket.īuilt from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera, and named after its architect – Charles Garnier – Palais Garnier is of Napoleon III (second empire) and Beaux-Arts style and is “a building of exceptional opulence”. Four sculpture groups line the front left and right side of the façade – They are (from left to right): Poetry or Harmony by François Jouffroy Instrumental Music by Jean-Baptiste Claude Eugène Guillaume The Dance by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux and Lyrical Drama by Jean-Joseph Perraud. If you’ve read my post about one dark and stormy night (with a delish chocolate hazelnut cake), you would know that I’d been trying to see Marc Chagall’s paintings in person for years without much success.

Paris opera house original ceiling