Germany donated to Reims contemporary stained glass – Le Figaro

Three new works Knoebel, adorn the cathedral of Rheims. They complement other six signs of the artist, and the three paintings by Chagall.

The Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and his German counterpart Frank -Walter Steinmeier inaugurated Monday in the cathedral of Reims, three new stained glass by German artist Imi Knoebel. Contemporary and abstract, they will complete the great work of Chagall and first work of Knoebel, installed in 2011.

It is Germany which has donated to France to celebrate the friendship between the two countries.

“The Germans have inflicted deep wounds in 1914 and work Knoebel can close the last scars of this war,” said the German minister, referring to the 400 shells fell on the cathedral which virtually left in ruins.

The three new stained glass windows that adorn the apse chapel Joan of Arc, 5402 are composed of glass pieces and were carried out by Workshop Derix in Taunusstein (Germany). They are 27 shades of primary colors, blue, yellow, red and white, and form folded and layered solids. They do not represent Biblical or religious scenes, but play on the idea of ​​light and “luminance”, as the artist says.

They are, in this respect, in the line of the other six already made by Knoebel, to mark the 800th anniversary of the cathedral. They had been ordered by the French government to decorate the two apsidal chapels located on either side of it decorated by Chagall. They had been made in Paris by Duchemin workshops, and Reims, the workshop Simon Marq (created in 1640).

Lack of resources, the state orders for new windows are now rare. In July 2015, a work by Véronique Ellena, former resident of the Villa Medici in Rome, will be installed at the Strasbourg Cathedral. But the opportunity is unique. Cathedral will be celebrating its millennium

The German artist Imi Knoebel poses in front of his three windows Copyright: FRANCOIS NASCIMBENI / AFP