When it opened on June 10 , 2020 , the Bassins de Lumières in France became the large digital nontextual matter verandah in the populace . But history yellowish brown may be more interested in the site ’s background than the art it contains : Before it became an art gallery , the concrete space held a fleet of Nazi submarines during World War II , Smithsonianreports .
Due to theCOVID-19pandemic , theBassins de Lumières ’s leaping 2020 first step date was delayed to June . Now guests can visit and see the works of painters Gustav Klimt , Paul Klee , and Egon Schiele digitally stick out over the concrete structure . U - boat pens , reaching up to 300 foot long and 36 feet gamey , are now canvases for colorful portrait , landscapes , and abstract scenes . The water filling the outer space ’s four basins reflects the graphics from below , while visitant bet down from walkways woven throughout the 130,000 - square - foot space .
The stem looked very different in the 1940s . Nazi Germany constructed it off the coast of Bordeaux as a spot to keep its submarines safe from enemy blast during repairs . The site was abandoned in 1944 , but because it ’s so enormous , the city of Bordeaux decided it would be cheaper to keep it than to tear it down .
Several decades later , the defunct bunker has been generate raw life . Culturespaces , the organization behind the task , spend more than $ 15 million transforming the root word into a multimedia system artistry gallery . After showcasing the current roll of panther for the balance of the twelvemonth , the space will sport new artists in 2021 .
[ h / tSmithsonian ]
