Tour aux Figures in Parc de l'Île Saint-Germain: full reopening scheduled for spring

The Hauts-de-Seine region hides many curiosities... Like this work by Jean Dubuffet: the Tour aux Figures is a strange-looking behemoth, 24 metres high and 12 metres wide. It adorns the center ofÎle Saint-Germain, in Issy-les-Moulineaux. Visible from afar, with its "figures" colored red and blue, this work ofoutsider art is a real eye-catcher.

This monumental sculpture benefited from a major renovation, and reopened its doors to the public in September 2020... At least, in part. At present, the Tower is closed to the public, and is only accessible on guided tours. But look forward to a full reopening in the first half of 2024.

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Yes, you can visit the Tour aux Figures. More than just a decorative tower, this work contains Le Gastrovolve, a 117-meter-long internal structure on five floors that offers a dizzying journey, evoking the viscera of a living organism. It's a veritable labyrinth that Jean Dubuffet imagined: step by step, you follow the revolving lines, go up or down a few steps, turn and turn again, without ever being able to complete the entire route in a single visit. This stroll through the heart of the work is designed to make us lose our bearings, leaving room for reverie and imagination.

This phenomenal work is part of theHourloupe cycle, a body of work by Jean Dubuffet that constitutes an imaginary, almost childlike world, born of the abstract tracings that can be made ad infinitum on a sheet of paper.

Did you know that this work almost never saw the light of day? Envisioned by the artist as early as 1967, the Tour aux Figures remained a model until 1983. The artist had to choose a work for his first public commission from the French state. It took Dubuffet two years to choose the ideal site for his tower, but he made up his mind in January 1985, a few months before his death. The Tour aux Figures was finally built according to his preparatory drawings and inaugurated in 1988.

Today, the Tower is classified as a historic monument, and as such benefits from special treatment to preserve it. If you haven't seen it yet, come and see it when it reopens in its entirety!