“Séphante, I had an incredible dream! I walked into an art gallery and at the bottom of the corridor I saw a fountain of paint. As I leaned over the basin, shapes came out! As soon as I thought of one thing, it came out of the fountain. The fountain created the shapes that were in my head! One after another!” Séphante found this dream marvellous. He decided to build this fountain to please Gellaé. On the floor of the Galeroom, a mysterious fountain produces coloured shapes that the two little characters assemble to create their own world.

Gaëlle Gabillet and Stéphane Villard, Studio GGSV, write: “In response to the Pompidou Centre’s invitation to celebrate its 40th anniversary, we had in mind the idea of a home, both welcoming and extravagant, a metaphor for the Centre and its history. We wanted to offer children a totally immersive environment that they could modify and occupy with their own creations. We wanted to share with them the pleasure of composing, of creating freely and joyfully. We made sure to give things a beautiful materiality. As a backdrop, a fiction presents two small characters, Gellaé & Séphante, who have been walking for forty years in the museum’s exhibitions and galleries. By observing works of art that they do not always understand, they have taken the liberty of distorting and appropriating forms, colours and textures in order to build their own world. Some forms refer to the works of artists from the museum’s collection, such as René Magritte, Ettore Sottsass, Sol LeWitt, Giuseppe Penone, Franz West, Karel Appel, Salvador Dali and Gaetano Pesce. Artworks become constitutive elements of a construction set. Children can touch, assemble, sculpt, design. They experience the pleasure of creating on an exceptional scale. And what could be more joyful than playing together with the toys of the one who invites?”