... il
Louvre...

... e' un
labirinto
onirico...

... che
esiste
al confine
tra sogno
e realta'.



Il pittore
ha il
compito...

di
riprodurre
la bellezza
che
trascende
la natura.



Meravigliosi e
sconfinati campi
fittamente coltivati...

... e in mezzo
ai prati...

... una placida
foresta...

... un rivolo
d'acqua che scorre
tranquillo...

... non e' forse su questa
terra che noi siamo
giunti? ( )

Opera meno riuscita di altre, dove Taniguchi sembra più orientato a offrire fantastiche rappresentazioni del Louvre e delle sue opere che di aggiungere il suo tocco umano e delicato. Il risultato è un po' freddo, artefatto.
( )

A parte do esvaziamento do museu, pela chegada dos nazistas, é de cortar o coração. ( )

Un voyage onirique à travers le Louvre, son histoire récente et quelques-uns de ses peintres. Une bande dessinée composée de cinq récits qui parlent d’art, de beauté, des liens artistiques entre Orient et Occident et d’esprits logés en toute chose. Un volume doux, contemplatif et évocateur mais qui n’atteint pas la force émotionnelle des œuvres précédentes du dessinateur. ( )

Ghosts in the Gallery
Review of the NBM Publishing hardcover edition (2016) translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian from the original Japanese 千年の翼、百年の夢 (Millennium Wings, Centennial Dreams) (2015*)

In Guardians of the Louvre a young Japanese manga artist is on a trip to Europe to attend a comics convention. After the convention he plans to spend time in the museums of Paris, but instead falls sick with a fever in his hotel room. Apparently recovered, (you begin to wonder if perhaps the rest of the book isn't a fever dream) he does go to The Louvre but discouraged by the crowds he wanders off alone. He then encounters a vision of the restored Winged Victory of Samothrace, who identifies herself as a Guardian of the Louvre. Communing with the Guardians allows the man to encounter various artists and personalities associated with the museum and its history. In the end he meets someone from his own past.

See image at https://irenebrination.typepad.com/.a/6a00e55290e7c4883301b7c8724f28970b-800wi
A sample page from Guardians of the Louvre. Image sourced from a review at Irenebrination.

On the whole the story here was not very dramatic, until we hear about the World War II project to save the Louvre's most precious works from Nazi looting and destruction. Previously the encounters with the spirits of artists such as Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875) and Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) were quite uneventful.

The artwork, as always with Taniguchi, is beautiful of course. The museum interiors though do not provide for quite the same expansive beauty as his city vistas in another late commissioned work [book:Venice|34679287] (2014).

The book, even in this English translation, is presented in Japanese manga format, so that you read the pages from back to front and the panels from right to left.

Trivia and Link
* As the book was a commission by the Louvre, the French language edition was actually published first as Les Gardiens du Louvre (2014). ( )