Even after pop artist Jeff Koons ruffled French feathers with his inflatable 'Lobster' and giant balloon dogs---installed at Versailles in 2008---another American was invited to create a more permanent fixture at the Louvre.

Cy Twombly, the first artist given the honor of decorating a Louvre ceiling since Georges Braque in the 1950s, has now painted one gallery ceiling with a geometric design - a deep blue background punctuated with floating disks and emblazoned with the names of sculptors from ancient Greece.

Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said the ceiling reminded him of "the sea, allied with the sun."