The Minister of Culture, André Malraux, was in no doubt about his choice he had seen Chagall's set for Daphnis et Chloé and realised that Chagall was the only artist who could manage to renovate the plafond. The Grand Opéra, covered in gold and paintings from past centuries, almost a museum piece, suddenly found a new history. Criticism, however, subsided after the opening. A Jew from Soviet Belorussia, an emigrant and a very old man - Chagall was 77 at the time - an artist with a very unclassical style of painting: all this led to various malicious gossips.
Inviting Marc Chagall to do such a work was a rather brave decision that provoked much controversy. The chandelier was then switched on and everyone in the audience could see the Opéra's new plafond. The chandelier under the ceiling was doused, the entire corps de ballet came on stage and the 'Jupiter' by Mozart, Chagall's favourite composer, was performed. On 23 September 1964, more than two thousand guests came to the Paris Opéra for the unveiling of the plafond painted by Marc Chagall.
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