The world-renowned Musée du Louvre has made a groundbreaking addition to its collection by acquiring its first-ever video artwork, marking a historic milestone for the Paris institution. The piece, titled "Les 4 temps" (The 4 Seasons), was created by acclaimed Algeria-born artist Mohamed Bourouissa and represents a significant expansion of the museum's contemporary art offerings.
The video work focuses specifically on the Tuileries Gardens, the famous public space that serves as a vital thoroughfare connecting the iconic Paris museum to the Place de la Concorde. This carefully crafted piece will be displayed in the museum's Salle de la Chapelle, which offers visitors a direct view overlooking the garden itself. The exhibition is scheduled to run from October 22, 2025, through January 19, 2026, providing an extended opportunity for visitors to experience this innovative artwork.
Donatien Grau, the Louvre's head of contemporary programs, explained the significance of this acquisition and the museum's vision behind it. "We wanted to do, for the first time, a video portrait of this garden—the largest in the center of Paris, and the only attached institutionally to a major museum," Grau stated. This perspective highlights the unique relationship between the Tuileries Gardens and the Louvre, making it an ideal subject for artistic exploration.
The artwork carries deep personal significance for Bourouissa, connecting to both his life story and artistic practice. In the distance of the garden views captured in the video, visitors can see the 4 Temps shopping mall located in La Défense, the Paris suburb where Bourouissa spent his formative years. This visual connection creates a bridge between the artist's personal history and the institutional grandeur of the Louvre, adding layers of meaning to the work.
The acquisition follows an ambitious year-long digital project that preceded this permanent addition to the collection. Prior to creating this standalone piece, the Louvre invited Bourouissa to present a new video each week for an entire year through the museum's Instagram channel. This innovative social media initiative ran from February 2024 to February 2025 and successfully reached millions of viewers worldwide, demonstrating the power of digital platforms to expand museum audiences.
"Fifty-two weeks and 52 videos—we could follow the life of the garden for an entire year, across the four seasons," Grau explained, describing the comprehensive nature of the project. After the completion of this digital series, the videos were removed from the Instagram channel, and Bourouissa transformed them into the standalone artwork now entering the Louvre's permanent collection. The artist went beyond simple video compilation, personally composing the music for the piece and incorporating recordings of the vibrations of the plants within the garden, creating a multisensory artistic experience.
Grau expressed the museum's pride in this significant acquisition, noting that the video work has entered the Louvre collection as part of the "histoire du Louvre" program. This specialized program focuses on acquiring referential contemporary or historic works that reflect and illuminate the history of the institution itself. The inclusion of Bourouissa's work in this program underscores its importance in documenting and interpreting the Louvre's ongoing evolution.
The selection of Bourouissa for this historic first video acquisition was deliberate and well-considered. "Mohamed was the right artist; he is one of the greatest video artists of our time, has engaged with the logics [workings] of garden, as well as with the history of art that the Louvre embodies," Grau concluded, highlighting the artist's unique qualifications for this groundbreaking project.
In a recent update, Bourouissa shared insights about his deep engagement with the subject matter and the discoveries he made during the creative process. "I've definitely discovered quite a lot about the Tuileries Garden and the area around the Louvre," the artist told The Art Newspaper. "I focused not just on the history of the sculptures or on the layout by [the designer] André Le Nôtre, but also on the architecture, the daily environment, the seasonal cycles, and the gardeners and night guards who work there. It gave me a deeper understanding of the garden's character." This comprehensive approach demonstrates the artist's commitment to capturing not just the visual beauty of the space, but its living, breathing essence as experienced by those who work within and visit it throughout the year.
