ICM - Leeds Design Agency

Somethings just don’t go together, red and green, me and marmite or a Big Mac and fine art.

The two are set to collide though at the Louvre art museum in December, the upscale shopping mall beneath the museum known as Le Carrousel du Louvre is to get it’s very own McDonalds/McCafe.

The Le Carrousel du Louvre has vaulted ceilings and polished, granite walls and shares the same I.M. Pei architecture as the museum. How a big plastic waving Ronald Mcdonald will fit in i have no idea, although I would like to see a picasso version of the man himself.

Didier Rykner, chief editor of the French art journal The Art Tribune, is one critic.

“They say, Oh, it’s going to be a very high-level McDonald’s,’ “ Rykner says, laughing. ‘I don’t know what is a ‘high-level McDonald’s!‘’

Rykner says the initial contract for the mall when it opened 20 years ago stipulated only cultural and high-profile shops.

But officials from the Louvre are assuring critics that a quality McCafe will be positioned in the underground approach to its entrance. The restaurant will represent the American segment of a new food court featuring world cuisines and coffee shops.

Rykner says that although the French do enjoy fast food, it should remain separate from art.

“It doesn’t fit together because I think McDonald’s is one of the lowest level of cooking, and Louvre is one of the biggest level in art.” he says.

McRembrandt meal for me please!