Installation by Mohamed Bourouissa LES 4 TEMPS (THE 4 SEASONS)

From February 2024 to February 2025, Mohamed Bourouissa spent time wandering the Tuileries Garden. Every week, he filmed this place of constant transformation, with its changing seasons, light, animals and passersby, posting his videos on the Musée du Louvre’s Instagram account. Following the rhythm of the seasons, Bourouissa captured the garden’s various artworks, flora and fauna. Engaging the gardeners in dialogue, he testifies to their work and involvement in the park. From his methodical work, the video Les 4 temps (The 4 Seasons) was born, the product of a yearlong observation where the pace of nature meets the pace of art. Bourouissa’s film is a synthesis of all his artistic practice: music composed from sounds recorded in the Tuileries, theatrical staging, and the eye of a scenographer, sculptor, draughtsman and – above all – videographer. It is a dense, powerful film, showing more than a year of images and experiences.

The Louvre has acquired The 4 Seasons by Mohamed Bourouissa, first video work to enter the collection. It can be seen in the Salle de la Chapelle at the Musée du Louvre. From the window of the Salle de la Chapelle, the outlying cities of Courbevoie and La Défense, where Bourouissa grew up, can be seen. This link between past and present is essential: it connects Les 4 Temps, an enormous shopping mall in La Défense, with Nicolas Poussin’s Four Seasons, displayed in a nearby room at the Louvre, and the four seasons of the natural ecosystem of the Tuileries, the largest garden in central Paris.

In making this connection, Bourouissa also bridges two worlds: the story of his life and the history of art; the suburbs of Paris and the Louvre; the interior of the Louvre and the living Tuileries Garden. This immersive installation takes these links even further with light and colour, for an unforgettable sensory experience.