Her major solo exhibition in the PALACE OF VERSAILLES, in 2012, has been the most visited in Paris for the past 50 years, welcomed over 1.6 million visitors. To this day, Joana Vasconcelos remains the youngest artist and only female to have an exhibition in the mythical palace.

«I consider the Palace of Versailles to be one of the greatest exponents of Western culture. It showcased important conquests and is still today a symbol of excellence in art and a leading example of the most daring aesthetical experiences of the West. Versailles’ boldness, its penchant for experimentation and creative freedom are my biggest sources of inspiration and admiration. While the fascination and its influence over me is so present in the exuberance of the baroque form, it is no less in perceptible in the discreet conceptual silence that structures the work.

When I walk through the salons and the gardens of the Palace, I feel as though I am between reality and dream, everyday life and magic, between the festive and the tragic. I hear the revolutionary crowd, the echo of Marie-Antoinette’s footsteps, the music and the festive atmosphere of the salons. To interpret and to confront the dense mythology and the history of Versailles with contemporaneity, evoking the presence of important feminine figures that inhabited the Palace, crossing my identity and my own experience as a Portuguese woman born in France, will certainly be the most fascinating challenge of my career.» Joana Vasconcelos