Underground worlds. 20 000 Leagues Under the Earth

Nietzsche warned us not to lean too far, for "if you gaze into the abyss for too long, the abyss will gaze back at you". And yet Louvre-Lens invites us to jump into the darkness with both feet, following in the footsteps of Orpheus, Dante and Plato, mine workers and underground passengers. The museum has a knack for arousing the curiosity of its visitors with iconographic subjects that are both seductive and cutting-edge: after ’Fantastic Animals’ (see article), it is now devoting an exhibition to ’Underground Worlds’.

1. Just Becquet (1829-1907)
La Vouivre du Puits Noir, 1899
Terracotta - 51 x 48.5 cm
Besançon, Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie
Photo: Besançon, Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie

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Seven thematic sections, themselves divided into several parts, bring together works from all eras and civilisations.
Unfortunately, the sibylline titles of these different chapters do not make it easy to understand a rich and dense discourse that would have benefited from a clearer development, and perhaps a less sage scenography. It’s hard to guess which works are in the room entitled "Frightening the fear in the darkness", or "Soothing yourself in an enchanting world", or "Living in an inspiring world".
The non-European works scattered throughout the exhibition overload the subject with digressions that merely evoke the perception of the afterlife by other civilisations. This overly broad question of death, depending on the country and the period, is therefore skimmed over, or not explored in sufficient depth - it’s all a question of point of view and hope. So it is that a skeletal Mayan divinity rubs shoulders with the ghastly Vouivre of Franche-Comté (ill. 1) and a Chinese tomb guardian with twisted horns and sharp teeth. Further on, an Egyptian sarcophagus is placed in the perspective of Devambez’s large triptych, Pensée aux absents (ill. 2), which evokes the Great War through three women in mourning - daughter, mother and wife - seated above a field of white crosses where the shadows of soldiers walk.

2. André Devambez (1867-1944)
La Pensée aux absents, 1927
Oil on canvas and card - 130 x 110 cm and 47 x 53 cm
Tourcoing, Eugène Leroy Museum of Fine Arts
On long-term loan to the Historial de la Grande Guerre, Péronne
Photo: bbsg

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Although the journey is not chronological, it nevertheless follows a progression: from anguish to wonder, from the funereal depths of the earth to the treasures it holds. This somewhat Manichean desire to separate two visions of the subterranean world - terrible at the beginning of the exhibition, enchanting at the end, to let visitors leave happy - confuses the subject, because it causes mythological, religious and literary figures to be scattered throughout the rooms, even though they are linked. The abduction of Proserpine, for example, depicted by François Girardon or Pierre Brébiette (ill. 3), is evoked in the…