The Guimard Entrances

When Hector Guimard designs Paris metro entrances around 1900, many Parisians find them disturbing. The green structures seem to grow like metal plants at the sidewalk's edge. Some critics even speak of "tentacles" or "viscous forms." Today iconic of Paris, these metro entrances then represented a radical visual break with the city's classical architecture.

Approaching the Universal Exhibition of 1900, Paris rapidly develops its new metropolitan network. Hector Guimard receives the mission to design several standardized accesses for stations.

Rather than using monumental classical architecture, he adopts the vocabulary of Art Nouveau: organic lines, vegetal asymmetries, and industrially produced cast iron. The famous green structures resemble stems or living organisms surging from the urban ground. The letters of the word "Métropolitain" themselves seem drawn like natural forms in growth.

This fusion between modern industry and botanical inspiration constitutes one of the major signatures of European Art Nouveau. The style seeks to integrate architecture, furniture, typography, and decor in a same fluid language. But initial reactions are very divided. Some critics consider these entrances excessive, decorative, or even disturbing. Guimard nevertheless uses profoundly modern techniques. Metal elements are industrially manufactured then assembled according to a relatively efficient modular system.

The paradox of Guimard entrances comes precisely from this alliance between stylized nature and industrial production. They give the impression of having spontaneously grown in the city while they result from extremely thoughtful technical standardization.