Scala

In 2025, Eva Jospin was invited by the Grand Palais in Paris to hold a retrospective exhibition, looking back over ten years of work, entitled Grottesco (10 December 2025 – 15 March 2026). Around twenty works were presented on this occasion, some of which were produced specifically for the exhibition. This was the case with the work Scala.

In this exhibition, Eva Jospin revisits the motif of the cave, which, like the forest, forms an integral part of her artistic universe. Grottesco refers to the legend of the rediscovery, within a cave, of the remains of Nero’s Domus Aurea by a young Roman at the end of the 15th century. The palace’s frescoes, rescued from oblivion, inspired a new decorative style known as ‘grotesques’ – a style in which plant motifs, architectural elements and fantastical imagery intertwine in a rich and exuberant composition. It is this central theme that inspires Eva Jospin.  

In her monumental works, she brings together nature and architecture, which become one. Scala, meaning ‘stairs’ in Italian, takes us back precisely to these architectural inspirations. This horseshoe-shaped staircase, which can be found, for example, at the Medici Villa in Poggio a Caiano, a few kilometres from Florence, as well as in the Italian Baroque palaces that have greatly inspired Eva Jospin, makes us lose our bearings. By extending both upwards and downwards, it creates perfect symmetry, a mirror image, like a reflection on water. Through a play of full and empty spaces, the artist invites us to explore multiple perspectives that transform our understanding of the work, leaving us on the cusp between reality, a familiar impression and the unknown.