Speech by Frédéric Mitterrand, Minister of Culture and Communication, on the occasion of the visit of the Manufacture des Gobelins during the Tombée de métier de la tapisserie Le Grand Silence, after a cardboard box by Vincent BIOULÈS

A «fall of trade»: I find this expression particularly beautiful, everything
like the act it evokes and to which we had the chance and the pleasure
to attend later. An act that is not only that of separation
between the loom and the patiently made tapestry, but also,
symbolically, a sudden autonomy of the work in relation to the material
from which it is derived and woven, and I would say almost from a birth. It is in any case
truly a “creation”, in the sense of a play,
of an opera or musical work that come to light the day after the first
“curtain raising”.
I also find the title “Grand” very beautiful, very evocative and very eloquent.
silence» that Vincent BIOULÈS has chosen for his cardboard, which makes us think
“infinite spaces” by PASCAL, at the “Silence of the Sea” by VERCORS, or
at this «wedding hour, Augustus and solemn» of Booz HUGO, where the
moon represents, as in this work, a golden sickle in the field of
stars” is a title that resonates with the “fall of
trade”, which also suggests a “sunset” and entry into the
Nocturnal «scintillations» dear to MALLARMÉ.
This work is just as magnificent by its design as by the finesse of its
"interpretation," as they say so beautifully and rightly in the language of the
I would like to congratulate them for their outstanding work, particularly on their
color range.
This work could also have been called, I believe, “The Great Mirror”, both
There is, of course, the central mirror. The
in which a window fragment, which is itself like a
another mirror, and at the same time a perfect metaphor for art and painting, because
it not only reflects, it is also open to the world, because, like
Arthur SCHOPENHAUER wrote: «art is a two-way mirror».
The mirrors are also this iridescent sphere of stars in the center of the tapestry, this
world map that seems, at the same time, a map of the sky that it reflects, but
it is also the vase in the foreground that crystallizes the lights of the night. Mirror
also, in this setting of «quiet life», of still life as the English says so well, a
play allusion and reference to other works, other artists – to start
by MATISSE of course, of which we find many elements of color, of patterns
and style.
It is precisely the specular and symbolic character of this tapestry that
invites me to interpret it in my turn, a bit like in this fascinating text by Henry
JAMES you know, The Image in the Carpet – to interpret it in a way
that I hope both true to the spirit of this work and, inseparably, political,
in the noblest sense of the word, that is, in relation to public action in the City,
at the service of everyone.

I read in this Great Silence the defence and the illustration, silent and
at the same time very eloquent, crafts, and first of
very rich and very fruitful collaboration between the painter and his interpreters,
Guided by the breadcrumbs, I want to say the “red thread” of his vision.
It brilliantly demonstrates that the most
few can dialogue with the most advanced research of the
contemporary creation, which both can combine and
intertwine, within these laboratories of excellence that constitute the
National furniture and Manufactures of Gobelins, as to those of
Beauvais and the Savonnerie. The visit we made all to
the hour has confirmed their full vitality, and I thank each of you
here, who are its daily actors – and over the long term that is the
temporality specific to your professions.
Thank you.