The Choux de Créteil, Gérard Grandval's towers
The Choux de Créteil, ten round towers with petal-shaped balconies designed by Gérard Grandval between 1969 and 1974, painted by Dinelli on crumpled canvas.
In Créteil, south-east of Paris, ten round towers stand out from afar: their petal-shaped balconies gave them their name, the Choux (cabbages). Architect Gérard Grandval built them between 1969 and 1974. The estate has around 600 homes and holds the Patrimoine du XXe siècle (20th-century heritage) label.
Post-war boom architecture
The Choux belong to the housing estates that Dinelli describes as places “where collective memory, urban dynamism and social challenges meet”. Their curved shape, rare in social housing of the period, makes them one of the most photographed buildings around Paris.
Three canvases
Dinelli has devoted several paintings to them. Choux de Créteil 2 looks closely at the petals, with blue windows appearing between them. Choux de Créteil 3 is almost monochrome, in white and grey. Choux de Créteil 4 is a darker version, with blue windows and touches of green showing through.
On the crumpled canvas the curved balconies fold a second time: the shape of the building and the shape of the canvas answer each other.
All three canvases belong to the Habitats collection.
Text: Dinelli studio. Quotations: the artist's own writings.
New works
An occasional letter, when a new series or an exhibition is coming. Nothing else.