Paris rooftops, zinc and UNESCO
The zinc rooftops of Paris, whose roofers have been on UNESCO's intangible heritage list since 2024, painted by Dinelli on crumpled canvas.
Seen from a high window, the rooftops of Paris form a landscape of their own: slopes of grey zinc, dormer windows, forests of chimneys topped with terracotta pots. Zinc covers around 80% of the city's roofs. It spread with Haussmann's great works in the 19th century.
A craft recognised by UNESCO
On 4 December 2024 the skills of Parisian roofers, zinc workers and ornamentalists were inscribed on UNESCO's list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity: recognition for a trade that shaped the look of the city.
Dinelli's Paris Rooftops
Dinelli has worked on the rooftops of Paris since returning to the city in 2000, first in pastel, with the Paris Rooftops and Rooftops of the World series, which won several awards. Today she paints them in oil on crumpled canvas: Paris Rooftops – Montmartre, Paris Rooftops – Batignolles, Paris Rooftops – Les Abbesses and Paris Rooftops – Les Abbesses 2, where a large blue “PARIS” graffiti stretches across a wall.
Tags are part of the landscape: for the artist they are “witnesses of contemporary urban life”. Haussmann buildings have their canvases too, Paris Rooftops – Haussmann and Paris Rooftops – Haussmann 2.
The whole series is gathered in Paris Rooftops.
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.