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Jordan Times
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Jordan Times
Art lovers mob Paris's Pompidou Centre ahead of five-year closure
PARIS — Tourists and French visitors alike filled Paris's 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!" exclaimed one guide, Elisa Hervelin, as people around her took photos of many of the museum's permanent works, among them paintings by Salvador Dali and Henri Matisse and sculptures by Marcel Duchamp. The 2,000-piece collection, on display on the fourth and fifth floors on the 48-year-old multicultural centre, are to start being taken away from Monday. 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 September 22 this year. The 262-million-euro ($284 million) renovations include removing asbestos from the structure. 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, said she wanted to "see for real" the abstract paintings of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian, which she had been shown in her school's art class. Paula Goulart, a 25-year-old Brazilian, admitted she was there mainly for the spectacular view of the Paris skyline from the centre's upper storeys. Her Portuguese friend Luis 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, Yujie Zou, 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. 3.2 million visitors With 3.2 million visitors last year, 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. "I'm sad," said Hervelin, the guide who has been taking visitors through the museum for the past 14 years and on Saturday 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 lamented. She added that it would be "the public -- curious and open -- I will miss the most". 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!" Page 2
Jordan Times
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Jordan Times
Pompidou Museum invites public for last look before renovation
The Pompidou Centre is one of the most-visited museums in Paris (AFP photo) PARIS — The Pompidou Museum in Paris has invited art-lovers in for a last look at its collection before it closes its doors for a five-year major renovation. The museum, one of the world's biggest modern art spaces, will host a series of performances this weekend before its permanent collection is removed ahead of the renovation work. From Monday, specialists will begin taking away the roughly 2,000 items on permanent display -- from paintings by Francis Bacon to the sculptures of Marcel Duchamp. Temporary exhibitions will run until September, when the public will be shut out entirely for five years while a colossal overhaul, including asbestos removal, takes place. "This colossal operation has taken months, even years, to prepare," production director Claire Garnier told AFP. The museum is one the most visited in the French capital and a beloved landmark, designed by architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers and opened in 1977. It will be free for visitors to enter from Friday evening when Paris-based DJs Louise Chen and Busy P (Pedro Winter) are scheduled to play inside, with attendees invited to dress or create accessories inspired by the permanent collection. The museum will remain open to the public free-of-charge over the weekend and until late on Monday evening, with music, dance and educational workshops scheduled to take place in different parts of the building. Distinctive features The museum's collection will now be spread across a number of museums in several countries, with its works lent as far afield as Malaga in Spain, the Chinese city of Shanghai, the Belgian capital Brussels and major museums in Australia, Japan and the United States. From its opening in January 1977, the museum, named after France's former president Georges Pompidou, enjoyed extraordinary attendance figures, said Garnier. Apart from the pandemic years, it has welcomed an average of four million visitors a year, making it one of the most visited sites in Paris. The building's distinctive features, which include exposed multi-coloured tubes running inside and outside, were dreamed up by architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers. The state of Paris's often crowded cultural attractions hit the headlines in January when the head of the Louvre warned that the world's most-visited museum was suffering from water damage, poor maintenance and long queues. President Emmanuel Macron visited afterwards to promise that it would be "redesigned, restored and enlarged" with a multi-year overhaul forecast to cost up to 800 million euros ($830 million). The Pompidou museum's renovation work has a provisional budget of 262 million euros.
