This work, a polyptych of nine acrylic paintings on Plexiglas panels, located on the third floor next to the theatre, depicts scenes from May 1968. Fascinated by the fact that no one was killed during these riots, Jean Tinguely commissioned Larry Rivers, who had been his neighbour on the Impasse Ronsin in Paris, to paint the mural. These panels portray all the symbols and actors of the demonstration: the party, the cobblestones, the politicians, the CRS, the demonstrators... The work was installed in 1994, by Jean Tinguely's assistants, with the approval of Niki de Saint Phalle and Pontus Hultén. Each panel, hung from the ceiling via a suspension system, is frontally illuminated by a halogen projector.
The paintings :
• Liberté (Freedom)
• La manifestation (The demonstration)
• C
• Ni Dieu ni mètre (Neither God nor meter)
• L'homme à l'écharpe tricolore (The man with the tricolor scarf)
• Daniel Cohn-Bendit
• Les pavés (The cobblestones)
• Les CRS (The Republican Security Corps)
• La charge des CRS (The charge of the Republican Security Corps)
