Oil on cardboard – 8 x 8 inch – Unique work

We have this feeling that this monument has always been there and obviously, it is the oldest monument in Paris, even before the founding of the capital. Its manufacture dates back to the ancient Egyptian civilization. It was classified as a historical monument in 1937.

Come on, let’s go for a little history…

The Obelisk of Luxor originally comes from the Temple of Amun at Luxor in Egypt and has been placed in the center of Place de la Concorde since 1836.

The viceroy of Egypt Mehemet Ali offers Charles X the obelisk erected in front of the temple of Luxor, as a sign of goodwill. In exchange, Louis-Philippe 1st offered, in 1845, a copper clock which still adorns the Cairo citadel today.

The obelisk, dating from the 13th century BC. AD, is 23 meters high and weighs 222 tons, to which must be added the 240 tons of the pedestal. Its summit is 33.37 meters high. The obelisk itself is made of syenite (a pink rock, close to granites but very poor in quartz) from Syene (now Aswan).

The top of this obelisk is surmounted by a pyramidion, 3.60 meters high, made of rolled sheet bronze, and gilded with gold leaf.

Well, that’s all very instructive. But does it mean anything to you? I’m about to make a confession…

I studied ancient Greek in middle school and high school. It came across to me somehow by chance, following an interview with the principal at the time. Why not I told myself. And it really got me. I still remember my first words, many years later: η Σελήνη λάμπει (the moon is shining)!
And every time I look at this obelisk, it comes to my mind. It is as if my youth came back to life thanks to this huge monument. It almost makes you dizzy and yet perhaps it goes almost unnoticed.

I want to pay tribute to the Obelisk of Luxor with this small painting, very simple, just the top of the obelisk against a blue sky background with clouds that could as well be smoke. It would be like a spaceship coming from elsewhere and suddenly landing in the middle of the Place de la Concorde in Paris. That’s not that far from the truth after all. I went so far as to put gold leaf on the pyramidion!