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Museums host crowds of visitors eager to see famous and historical works of art. The displays show us the past and connect us to it. Everyone sees the same things on display, but everyone interprets what they see on their own. For some, museums trigger the imagination, inspiring and encouraging flights of fancy and wonder.

And that all happens during the day. Have you ever been in a museum and wondered what it would be like to be there all by yourself in the middle of the night? The dark halls conjure up thoughts of the paintings and statues coming to life, of secrets stored away in dusty, hidden rooms where even more amazing artifacts lie unseen.

Told through the eyes of a family of cats that live in the attic of the Louvre, Taiyo Matsumoto’s Cats of the Louvre is a story that takes into the secret nighttime world of the museum in our imaginations.

Cecile Gagnon is a guide at the Louvre. Somewhat frustrated by the hordes of tourists only wanting to see the Mona Lisa, she wishes she could show people some of the lesser known exhibits.

One of her co-workers, Patrick, joins the staff as a night watchman and learns the ropes from Marcel, who has worked at the museum for decades. One night, after the museum closes, Marcel introduces Patrick to the family of cats that live in the attic. The cats would be removed from the museum if discovered but Marcel looks after them.

But when the humans are gone, the perspective shifts to the cats as they take on human form and personalities. Do they actually transform, or are their anthropomorphic personalities simply the way they see themselves? Matsumoto does not answer this question, though when humans are with the cats, they see only normal animals.

Among the cats of the Louvre is Snowbebe, a small white cat who looks like a kitten, but is actually as old as the alpha male of the group, Bluebeard. Snowbebe seems to be in a perpetual funk, feeling alienated and alone among his feline compatriots. This malaise seems to have stunted his growth as well, causing him to remain a perpetual kitten.

However, Snowbebe has the amazing ability to actually enter into the paintings of the Louvre, losing himself in the imaginary worlds of the artwork. It is this talent that connects him to another mystery—the disappearance of Marcel’s sister Arietta—within the Louvre decades ago. Marcel believes Arietta also disappeared into the paintings and has been searching for her ever since. And as crazy as it sounds, Cecile finds herself investigating the disappearance and tracking down the painting into which Arietta may have disappeared. Cecile ends up digging into art history to try to find the painting Arietta entered, while Snowbebe goes on an even more fantastic and surreal journey.

That’s the plot but what is Cats of the Louvre about? To me, it’s a story about being afraid of going outside the safe and comfortable confines of childhood, or by extension, any situation which feels safe to you. The world outside presents many great wonders but can be a chaotic and scary place filled with danger and risk. Snowbebe refuses to venture outside the Louvre, preferring to escape into the fantasy world of the paintings. But in the paintings, nothing ever changes. They are at once, comforting and confining. There is no danger, but there is no progress in your life there. Snowbebe himself hasn’t aged. By refusing to accept and adapt to the outside world, like Peter Pan, he denies himself the process of growing up.

The story culminates in a surreal tour de force as Snowbebe enters the central painting in the story, The Funeral Procession of Love, and encounters Arietta. Snowbebe’s entrance into the painting brings the question of change to that unchanging world for the first time. Will he stay there with her forever? Will he bring her back to the real world with him? I like this sequence in particular simply for its fantastic imagery, of cherubs beckoning toward windy horizons where Dali-esque eyes drip gigantic tears into the ocean. In these chapters, Matsumoto’s art displays its unique ability to fit the tone of the story perfectly. I’m not sure if a more conventional manga art style could suit the story so well.

During a recent visit to the British Museum, Cats of the Louvre was on my mind as I wandered the exhibition halls. As the museum closed and the crowds were ushered out, I took my time, lingering in the Egyptian wing among the ancient statues, hoping to find that gateway to another time and place, and escape the real world.

Read of free preview of Cats of the Louvre by Taiyo Matsumoto here.