Reality Or Illusion? The Musée Grévin {Discover}

Where does reality start, where does illusion stops? As I walk into the Musée Grévin, along the Parisian boulevards, the kitsch, mirrored decorations and loud music transport me to a different dimension, reflexions blur the view and fog the mind. The visit starts with a 5-minute show: thunder, rain, vibrant reds and changing waxwork figures prepare the rest of the visit where I meet famous people from all over the world and walks of life - whether contemporary or long gone. The museum gathers characters made of wax, a material as ancient as Egypt, used mainly at that time and further down the centuries for religious purposes. The religious and the profane mingle in the museum where Angelina Jolie and Pope Francis welcome the visitors. What a pair! During the 17^th century wax sculptures became increasingly popular at the French Court: portrait artists were then allowed to depict faces with their original features - no embellishment, no censorship. And this is where reality started seeping through the characters lifelines, starting with king Louis XIV himself! Wax enabled artists to stick to reality, showing at least once the true face of the powerful ones to the world.

The Musée Grévin was founded by cartoonist Alfred Grévin, assisted by Gabriel Thomas and spurred by the unique idea of Arthur Meyer, a journalist who wished to help readers have a 360° vision of the people he wrote about in the press - a revolutionary idea at that time, not so far away from today’s buzz about 3-D printers, come to think of it. The museum officially opened in 1882. The premises were renovated in 2001 and in 2014 they welcomed the Fashion Hall where models and fashion designers such as Jean-Paul Gaultier and Christian Dior can be seen. Despite its renovation and the continuous addition of waxwork figures - up to 2,000! - , the museum is infused with delectable kitsch scenes and a sense of mouldy and mysterious shabbiness. This is part of its charm: as I progress down winding corridors, from one small room to a corner and a larger hall, there is no sense of direction and harmony. Is this a haunted mansion? Will I be able to find my way out of the labyrinth of faces, postures and stories? They all seem familiar to me, but I have actually met none of them… Nostradamus, gives me no hints.

For some characters, the resemblance is more astonishing than for others: I suppose this is due to the skills of the sculptor or to the fact that some figures are sculpted with the real models posing while others were sculpted from photographs. To make a successful sculpture, one needs not only to capture the contours and lines of a being, but the details, from overall attitude  and gestures to the color of their hair. Just image the set of skilled artists needed to finish one statue! It would actually be interesting to know, for each sculpture whether the artist worked from a real model or a visual and how long it took to complete the full figure. 

If you are lucky, once you get lost in the world of illusions, you will meet your guide: a statue that suddenly comes to life, takes you by the hand, leads you towards the light.