A year after opening in Brussels, the Johnny Hallyday exhibition comes to Paris. On Friday December 22nd, the Paris version will open its doors at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center until June 19th, 2024. On the eve of its opening to the public, Paris Match was able to preview it.
The visitor is surprised as soon as he arrives in the first room… empty. Immersed in the darkness, he first hears Johnny's voice in the audio guide before discovering the first archive images projected onto the screen. The rocker's legendary stage performances are put together in front of an enthusiastic audience. A figurative response to the quote that opened the visit: that of Maurice Chevallier, who advised a very young Johnny to take care of his entry and exit and then “do his job” in the middle.
Reconstruction of the rocker's bedroom when he was 18 years old and living in Paris, for the “Johnny Hallyday” exhibition at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles on December 22, 2023. © Marine Corviole/Parismatch.com
With the rocker's voice, sometimes in an interview, sometimes in a concert, the visitor then goes through the different rooms. He can also hear the voice of his friend Jean Reno. “He did more than just lend his voice. He revised a text that had been given to him. Although he is an experienced actor, it took him two days to make the thirty-minute recording because he was so overcome with emotion,” says Benoît Remiche, curator of the exhibition. “It was a moment of great human intensity. »
Twelve places for a 57-year career
In a backstage concert atmosphere, where “flight suitcases” are set up everywhere, no fewer than twelve rooms trace the life and career of Johnny from 1961 to 2017: his room when he was 18 years old with his aunt in nearby Paris of Saint-Jean lived. Lazare, the room dedicated to his first concerts at L'Olympia in the early 1960s, the cinema hall that looks back on his passion for the 7th art and his career as a prolific actor with more than forty films, the separation of the USA of Cobra and motorcycles, the tunnel of “solitude”, which illustrates the rocker's darker moments and the feeling of (paternal) abandonment that so fueled his love songs…
Separating the false from the true was quite a task
Benoit Remiche
“Laeticia Hallyday asked me to create an exhibition worthy of Johnny,” explains Benoît Remiche. “She was absolutely generous. » Since preparations began in 2021, Taulier's widow has been personally involved in the preparation, helping to select archives and transport objects from Marnes-la-Coquette or Los Angeles. For the inspector, it was “quite a task to separate the false from the true as Johnny created his own legend.”
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The “Solitude” room in black and white, illustrating Johnny Hallyday’s alternation between moments of joy and moments of agony. “Johnny Hallyday. The Exhibition”, at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, from December 22, 2023. © Marine Corviole/Parismatch.com
Léa Rangé, the museographer responsible for listing the costumes, also had to do a lot of sorting work. At the end, 31 outfits will be exhibited, each illustrating a large tour of the Taulier. “There are a variety of Johnny Hallyday's styles, but the big constant is the elegant suits with a rock touch like the crocodile print, the studded jackets, touches of metal… Johnny's color palette was mostly black, a little white and blue. his favorite color. »
Overview of Johnny Hallyday's costumes on display at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, from December 22, 2023. © Marine Corviole/Parismatch.com
She adds: “There were no models the size of Johnny’s costumes, so each model was tailored to his body shape over the years. We wanted to illustrate his relationship with couturiers, such as Jean-Paul Gaultier for the concert at the Parc des Princes in 2003, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent for the early 1970s, Marc Bohan from the time he worked at Dior, Franck Sorbier for the “Flashback Tour” 2006.”
Johnny's office in Marnes-la-Coquette, the real one
The final highlight of the exhibition is Johnny's office in Marnes-la-Coquette, the same office where he died on December 5, 2017 at the age of 74. It was Laeticia who suggested presenting it to the public, not through a reconstruction, but by dismantling each individual element in Marnes-la-Coquette in order to reassemble everything identically in the exhibition space.
Johnny Hallyday's office was moved from his home in Marnes-la-Coquette to the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. © Marine Corviole/Parismatch.com
“It’s an office steeped in history that says a lot about Johnny. This is where he communicated with his producer Jean-Claude Camus and his artist friends, and this is where he left,” comments Benoît Remiche. “There are hundreds and hundreds of objects that had to be documented and numbered in order to bring everything back to Paris. It's an achievement! »