Frieze of Eyes

Frieze of Eyes

A few days before my induction into the Académie Française, I was obsessed with eyes. I saw eyes everywhere because I was preparing to pay homage to my predecessor, Yves Pouliquen, who had been a great ophthalmologist. I do not know much about physiology or eye surgery. Suddenly, without warning, I found myself before an entire display case of eyes, eyes of all colors, but each with approximately the same form, blue eyes, green eyes, amber eyes, eyes that watched me and gave me vertigo, whereas ordinarily in a museum it is I who am all eyes, I who see myself as a moveable eye (Sully, room 317, E 1813). According to Egyptian mythology, this eye, torn out and returned to Horus, the falcon god, is at once human and avian. And these faience eyes, endlessly reproduced, serve as amulets, good-luck charms. They give health, fertility, wisdom. The Louvre is also a museum of series, and not only of unique, irreplaceable works. On D-Day, the eye of Horus was with me.