Does the hand want to bend the tree, or straighten it out? Is it trying to overpower it or help it regain its natural angle?
In 2024, le Voyage à Nantes asked Max Coulon to work on the “leaning” pine tree near the Duchesse Anne streetcar stop: this pine seems to have defied the laws of gravity by growing horizontally. In a powerful gesture of apparent simplicity, Coulon grips it with a gigantic hand carved directly from the trunk of a Sequoia tree. Does this hand want to bend the tree, or instead to straighten it out? Is it trying to dominate it or help it regain its natural angle?
Uncertainty abounds, as always when trying to grasp the relationship between man and nature. The artist and Le Voyage à Nantes collaborated with the city’s Parks and Gardens Department to take every necessary precaution to respect this extraordinary tree.
Do not climb the tree or the sculpture.
Max Coulon was born in 1994. He lives in Paris and works in the Poush studios in Aubervilliers.
He is represented by the Romero Paprocki (France) and Nosbaum Reding (Luxembourg, Brussels) galleries.
Thanks to the “Nature et jardins” Department of the City of Nantes
Duchesse Anne-Château, 44000 Nantes
How to get there?
Parking(s) nearby: Parking Château, Parking Gare Château, Parking Baco-LU 1 côté gare, Parking Feydeau, Parking Cité des Congrès, Parking Baco-LU 2 côté CHU, Parking Decré-Bouffay
Public transport: Duchesse Anne - Château, Lieu Unique
Self-service bicycles: Duchesse Anne (n°49), Lieu Unique (n°61), Baco (n°52), Château (n°50), Gare De Nantes Nord (n°60), Strasbourg (n°3), Verdun (n°48), Gare De Nantes Sud (n°70), Cité Internationale Des Congrès (n°54), Foch (n°32)
