In partnership with Bibliothèque Nationale de France and France Muséums, Louvre Abu Dhabi is staging From Kalīla wa Dimna to La Fontaine: Travelling through Fables, an exhibition dedicated to the rich world of animal tales. Curated by Annie Vernay-Nouri (Former Chief Curator at the Oriental Manuscripts Department at Bibliothèque Nationale de France), the show welcomes all visitors until the 21th of July, 2024.
Fables, a literary genre featuring anthropomorphised animals, legendary creatures, or inanimate objects, convey moral lessons and provide insights into human behaviour. Passed down through generations, they entertain readers while imparting wisdom and values across different cultures. Tracing fables’ origins in India and Greece, the exhibition showcases fables’ evolution through the contributions of legendary Greek storyteller Aesop (c. 620-564 BCE) in the Greco-Roman world and Ibn al-Muqaffa (c.720-756 CE), a Persian translator and author, in the Arab-Islamic world.
The show spotlights the impact of Ibn Al-Muqaffa’s Arabic translation of the 8th-century Kalīla wa Dimna collection of fables derived from Panchatantra (an ancient Indian collection of animal tales) on later translations. These include the Persian and French versions that Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695 CE), one of the major figures in French literature, based his translations on.
The exhibition comprises three main sections: Travelling Tales, Telling Stories, and The Fables Today. It features more than 132 artworks (rare manuscripts, illustrations, paintings, 3D objects, contemporary pieces, etc.) depicting narratives of friendship, loyalty, cunning, and morality through animal characters. The exhibits include those on loan from esteemed institutions worldwide.
Among the highlights are one of the oldest illustrated manuscripts of Kalīla wa Dimna by Ibn al-Muqaffa dating back to the Ayyubid dynasty (1171-1250 CE) and La Fontaine composant ses fables ([La Fontaine writing his fables) by engraver François Vayron. One can also have a look at Landragin’s 19th-century clock representing The Milk Maid and Milk Jug, one of La Fontaine’s fables.
Additionally, the show presents remarkable digital installations, such as the Optical Theatre inspired by La Fontaine’s fable The Tortoise and the Two Ducks. This virtual hologram performs the fable in a setting composed of an animated video and various physical objects. Another digital work is The Rotunda, an immersive room devoted to the story of The Dove with the Necklace from Kalīla wa Dimna. Here, visitors are offered to lie on the floor to watch a film projected onto the ceiling.
For the first time, Louvre Abu Dhabi is also incorporating AI into the exhibition. You can create your fable in English, French, or Arabic via touch tables. Select a writing style from the authors presented in the show and choose characters and a moral, and the AI generates a personalised fable, which can be downloaded by scanning a QR code.
To learn more about From Kalila wa Dimna to La Fontaine: Travelling through Fables, please visit the show’s official web page.
While at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, you might also be interested in exploring the Picturing the Cosmos exhibition. Besides, we would recommend that you visit Reverberations: Textile as Echo.
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