Kimsooja's Light Installation Transforms Galeries Lafayette Dome

Korean artist Kimsooja has been commissioned to bring color back to the 43-meter-high dome of Galeries Lafayette on Boulevard Haussmann in Paris, over 110 years after the original stained glass by Jacques Grüber was removed during World War II and replaced with white panels. Her site-specific installation, part of the ongoing 'To Breathe' project initiated in 2006, applies a light-diffracting film to 600 white panels covering 1,000 square meters, creating iridescent effects that shift with natural light and weather. The work, on view until June 30, aims to offer moments of contemplation amid shopping frenzy. Kimsooja, born in 1957 in Daegu and based in New York, first visited Paris in 1984 for a six-month study at the École des Beaux-Arts. The installation is best viewed from the eighth-floor terrace and a fifth-floor interstitial space opened to the public, with a custom soundtrack. Guided tours are available on weekends. The commission continues Galeries Lafayette's patronage tradition, which began in 1922 with the La Maîtrise workshops under Maurice Dufrêne, involving designers like Charlotte Perriand, Serge Mouille, and Jacques Adnet, and continues today through Lafayette-Anticipations and support for institutions such as Centre Pompidou, Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, and Villa Noailles.