The American artist Jeff Koons will show a number of his large-scale works next year in Marie Antoinette's former headquarters, the Palace of Versailles. The 52-year-old Koons, the world's priciest living artist, will exhibit 12 to 15 works that may include "Split-Rocker," which is owned by French billionaire Francois Pinault. Running from Sept. 26 next year to the end of November, the exhibition will be Koons's first major French museum show, said Versailles President Jean-Jacques Aillagon, who previously managed Pinault's contemporary-art museum in Venice, the Palazzo Grassi. "Our job is not to do what modern-art museums or the Tate Gallery do," Aillagon told reporters summoned to a gilded 19th- century wing of the palace. "What is interesting is to explore the resonance between artists' works and Versailles, and invite the visitor to look at the palace differently."Aillagon, who was France's culture minister from 2002 to 2004, said the works would be displayed "judiciously, in a way that makes sense," both inside and outside the palace buildings. He said there were echoes of the Versailles spirit in Koons's output, namely in the overlap between works of art and works of nature. He recalled that Louis XIV featured in the artist's iconography. Exhibiting the unwieldy "Split-Rocker" sculpture -- which consists of tens of thousands of flower pots -- "is not ruled out," Aillagon said, though transporting and installing it "is not an easy task." The artist will be in Versailles in January to discuss his show, he said. 'Versailles Off' The Koons show is an extended version of the "Versailles Off" annual program that lets visitors view contemporary art on the palace grounds for two nights in a row. Koons became the priciest living artist when his 3,500- pound, hot-pink, stainless-steel "Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold)" sold for $23.6 million last month at Sotheby's in New York. Unveiling the rest of his plans for the palace's ongoing 500 million euro ($733.7 million) revamp, Aillagon said he has asked French artist Daniel Buren -- famous for the black-and-white striped columns in Paris's Palais Royal -- to design a staircase at Versailles. There will be a dance tribute in July to French choreographer Maurice Bejart, who passed away last month, by French ballerina Sylvie Guillem and the Tokyo Ballet. Aillagon's plans for the museum also include setting up a French equivalent of the National Portrait Gallery, and improving visitor access to the palace. At present, there are endless lines, very few toilets, no cafes, and no place for baby changing, he said. A temporary metal structure, opening in April, will ease visitor congestion.