Paris Journal VIII: Le Triomphe de Silene

Photograph: Clio20 (2006)

There is a statue in the Luxembourg Gardens called “Le Triomphe de Silene.”  It’s surrounded by tulips in the spring and when you look past the weathered green of the bronze you see first the running path, then the fence then the elegant apartment houses that border the park. The sculpture was created by Jules Dalou (1838-1902) and the inscription reads as follows: “Dans un enchevelrement pyramidal de forms humaines, Dalou reprise the personage du Silene le pere nourrisise de Dionysius (dieu de la vigne at du vin) denude, ivre et chancelant.” Silene or Silenus, as he was known was  “the god of the dance of the wine press” according to the Theoi Project. His name, according to the Theoi citation, is a combination of selo, “to move to and fro" and lens, “the wine-trough” and he is described as a “foster father” of Dionysius. If one takes the sculpture of the nude drunken and singing figure literally it seems to have no place in the repose of one of the most enchanting spots in Paris. But like a lot of contrarieties in the city of light, its presence is seamless and eternal. "Le Triomphe de Silene" is an oasis of chaos, a paean to the bacchanal amidst the effusion of Beaux Arts splendor which is the quintessence of Paris.