Art lovers mob Paris’ Pompidou Centre ahead of five-year closure
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Artworks at the 48-year-old multicultural centre will be given temporary homes in museums across France and in other countries.
PHOTO: AFP
PARIS – Tourists and French visitors alike filled Paris’ landmark Pompidou museum on the weekend to catch a last glimpse of its prestigious art collection ahead of a five-year closure for a major renovation.
“Five years – it’s long,” said guide Elisa Hervelin, as people around her took photos of many of the museum’s permanent works, among them paintings by Spanish artist Salvador Dali and Frenchman Henri Matisse and sculptures by French artist Marcel Duchamp.
The 2,000-piece collection, on display on the fourth and fifth floors of the 48-year-old multicultural centre, was being taken away starting on March 10.
The artworks are to be given temporary homes in museums across France and in other countries while the lengthy overhaul of the building – famously designed with its pipes and ventilation shafts colourfully adorning its facade – is carried out.
The full closure of the Pompidou Centre – which also comprises a vast library and a music research unit – will occur on Sept 22. The €262 million (S$377.8 million) renovations include removing asbestos from the structure.
A visitor photographing a work by French painter Marc Chagall at the Centre Pompidou in Paris on March 8.
PHOTO: AFP
With free entrance for its last weekend, visitors made the most of a last swing through the galleries, taking in the art as well as workshops, performances and DJ sets put on for the occasion.
Some were regulars to the museum, while others were seeing its collection in person for the first time.
Alyssa, an 11-year-old French girl taking it all in with her 62-year-old grandfather, wanted to see the abstract paintings of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian, which she had been shown in her school’s art class.
A visitor standing on a terrace of the Centre Pompidou in Paris on March 8.
PHOTO: AFP
Brazilian Paula Goulart, 25, admitted she was there mainly for the spectacular view of the Paris skyline from the centre’s upper storeys.
Her Portuguese friend Luisa Fraga, though, was a frequent visitor to the museum, who “wanted to enjoy as much as possible the artworks before they are no longer here”.
A Chinese visitor, Ms Zou Yujie, had made the Pompidou Centre a key stop on a trip through Europe. “I love Matisse. It was the first painter I studied at school,” she said.
With 3.2 million visitors in 2024, the Pompidou Centre is one of the most popular museums in Paris, ranking behind the Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay in terms of attendance. Opened in 1977, it is named after Georges Pompidou, France’s president between 1969 and 1974.
The renovation work will run through to 2030.
The work, Foret, by French artist Eva Jospin at the Centre Pompidou.
PHOTO: AFP
“I’m sad,” said Ms Hervelin, the guide who has been taking visitors through the museum for the past 14 years and on March 8 was giving one of her last tours before the hiatus.
“Putting the artworks elsewhere... There will never be collections in their current form.”
The art historian added that it would be “the public – curious and open – I will miss the most”.
Ms Amelie Bernard, a 21-year-old art student, shared the sense of impending loss.
“For two years now, I’ve been coming here around twice a month. It’s been great for me. I’ve been able to develop an eye for contemporary art and broaden my knowledge for my studies,” she said.
“I think I made the most of it – but, even so, it’s a bit of a shame,” she said, before adding optimistically: “It will force me to go see other museums, I really need that.” AFP
