“In my memory, we see The Lady and the Unicorn in Harry Potter “, says Annabelle Ténèze, director of the Abattoirs museum. The opportunity to see their own eyes is now offered to Toulouse. The Lady and the Unicorn will be exhibited at Slaughterhouse Museum from October 30, 2021 to January 16, 2022. On loan from the National Museum of the Middle Ages in Cluny, the work is made up of 6 tapestries more than 3 meters high each.
Its delivery from the Parisian museum, currently being modernized, will therefore be exceptional. However, this is not the first time that she will come to Toulouse. The Lady and the Unicorn one summer sheltering in the pink city during the First World War. “There is this act failed to take place without ever leaving its box, this astonishing link. But it returns a century later”, rejoices Annabelle Ténèze.
A pioneering and committed work
Among the tapestries that make up the work of the Middle Ages, five represent the senses : hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch. The sixth part of The Lady and the Unicorn stand out from the crowd. A few words are inscribed on the tapestry: “My only desire”. This desire would be, supposedly, that of the heart. However, there is no certainty on this subject: “This famous sixth sense is very difficult for us to analyze today. We do not know if it is a carnal desire or on the contrary a desire for detachment”, admits Annabelle Ténèze .
Considered one of the most beautiful achievements of the medieval period, the work would be foundational on two points: respect for nature and the representation of women. “The idea, by exposing The Lady with the Unicorn, it is also to see beyond its beauty and its mystery, ”explains the art historian. “There is also a reinterpretation of the unicorn in feminism and in queer culture”, she specifies. In both form and substance, the work is more contemporary than it appears.