The Panorama of the Bourse de Commerce

Published in the form of a concertina, this book invites readers to rediscover the monumental decoration crowning the Rotonde of the Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection: the marouflage canvas. Recently restored during the building’s conversion into a museum of contemporary art, this spectacular 19th-century work has now regained its full visual and historical impact.

The work is gigantic: 140 meters long and 10 meters high, it represent 1,400 square meters that depicts the world as imagined by France at the end of the 19th century. The work, commissioned by architect Henri Blondel for the conversion of the Halle au blé (Granary) exchange into the Bourse de commerce (Commodity Exchange) for the 1889 Exposition Universelle, reflects the economic and colonial imagination of its time. The artists—Alexis-Joseph Mazerolle, Marie-Félix Hippolyte Lucas, Georges Clairin, Évariste-Vital Luminais, and Désiré François Laugée—depict the continents and international trade of the era. Thus, the canvas is overflowing with “foodstuffs, loaded or unloaded crates, animals, fabrics, and objects”; one can also see travelers wearing “highly recognizable colonial headdresses” who are depicted “trading with Native Americans, Algerians, and Japanese.”

Its recent restoration, carried out as part of the building’s transformation by architect Tadao Ando, now allows visitors to rediscover its details through the museum’s new exhibition routes. Through an immersive reproduction of the interior, a selection of carefully studied details, and contextual text, this concertina book offers readers a visual and historical exploration of this monumental work. Blending art history with a contemporary perspective, it highlights how this grand panorama continues to engage in dialogue with the works and artists of today during exhibitions organized by the Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection.

[Quotes excerpted from the text by Nicolas-Xavier Ferrand in the book Le Panorama de la Bourse de Commerce]