REPORTAGE – Death, sex, violence and seduction… At the Museum of Fine Arts, located in the heart of the Norman castle, an original route brings together representations of the Gorgon with a petrifying gaze, from Greek vases to the #MeToo era. A stunning exhibition.
We shiver in Caen, in the heart of the imposing castle of William the Conqueror, as we enter the Museum of Fine Arts. An original exhibition on the theme of Medusa is held there. Not the animal, although in the middle of the course a video projection recalls the grace of this invertebrate when it evolves in the chaos of sea currents. But – infinitely more fascinating – the fabulous being of mythology.
Descendant of Earth and Ocean, Medusa is one of the Gorgons. An infernal creature then, except that it is the only one that is mortal. According to the Greeks, she had, like her two other sisters, the power to immediately petrify those who looked at her. Her bad luck would be to have been possessed by Poseidon, and that in a temple dedicated to Athena.
To punish her for this sacrilege, a crime of which Medusa would have been only the victim, the goddess of wisdom changed her hair into snakes. Since then they have been whistling on many heads.
Read alsoIn Manhattan, a statue of Medusa holding the severed head of Perseus is debated
The monstrous beauty (or the monstrously beautiful) ended up killed…
This article is for subscribers only. You have 78% left to discover.