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Visitors flock to Paris’s Pompidou Centre before it closes for renovations Visitors flock to Paris’s Pompidou Centre before it closes for renovations
(about 5 hours later)
Art lovers catch last glimpse of prestigious art collection before gallery shuts for five years for major revampArt lovers catch last glimpse of prestigious art collection before gallery shuts for five years for major revamp
Tourists and French visitors alike filled Paris’s landmark Pompidou Centre at the weekend to catch a last glimpse of its prestigious art collection before it closes for five years for a major renovation. Visitors from around the world have been flocking to the Pompidou Centre in Paris this weekend, seizing the last opportunity to enjoy Europe’s largest temple of modern and contemporary art before it closes its doors for a five-year overhaul.
“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 Dalí and Henri Matisse and sculptures by Marcel Duchamp. In one of the most complex closures of its kind, the task of removing the museum’s 2,000-strong permanent collection will start on Monday. The Pompidou’s Chagalls, Giacomettis and myriad other treasures will be relocated to other sites in Paris and museums elsewhere in France and around the world.
The 2,000-piece collection, on display on the fourth and fifth floors on the 48-year-old multicultural centre, is to be removed in a staggered process beginning on Monday. The refit of the nearly 50-year-old building, constructed in the heart of Paris by architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, is expected to cost an estimated €262ms and will require the entire centre – including its huge library and music research unit – to be closed from late September.
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 building, famous for its facade adorned with colourful pipes and ventilation shafts, will be given a top-to-toe renovation, with everything from its technology and accessibility to its energy efficiency due to be reconditioned. Most crucial is the removal of asbestos present everywhere from the museum’s ceilings to its pipes, a task so huge a complete demolition had been proposed.
The full closure of the Pompidou Centre – which also comprises a vast library and a music research unit – will take place on 22 September. The €262m (£220m) renovations include removing asbestos from the structure. Once complete, the cultural colossus, named after Georges Pompidou, France’s conservative president between 1969 and 1974, is to be reopened with a new exhibition space, offering what museum bosses have called a “multidisciplinary perspective” with new spaces for children and young people, as well as an enlarged library.
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. Art lovers have until 9pm on Monday to take a final stroll through the permanent collection. However, Laurent Le Bon, art historian and the museum’s head, said those who missed the deadline would have plenty of other chances to see the Pompidou’s works. Calling the renovation a “an unprecedented opportunity to reinvent the Centre Pompidou”, he has said: “We will use the time we have well.”
Some were regulars to the museum, while others were seeing its collection in person for the first time. Some of the works will be brought out of storage for an exhibition in Paris’ Grand Palais – which itself was reopened last summer after a major renovation..
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 the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian, which she had been shown in her school’s art class. French visitors and foreign tourists were among those to take advantage of the last weekend, for which entrance was free, with workshops, art performances and DJ sets contributing to a lively atmosphere.
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. Alyssa, an 11-year-old French girl visiting with her 62-year-old grandfather, said she wanted to “see for real” the abstract paintings of the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian, which she had been shown in school.
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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 were no longer here. Paula Goulart, a 25-year-old from Brazil, told Agence France-Presse she was a fan not so much of the artworks as of the spectacular views of the Paris skyline from the building’s upper storeys. Her Portuguese friend Luis Fraga said he was a regular visitor to the museum and was keen to lap up and “enjoy as much as possible” the artworks “before they are no longer here”.
With 3.2 million visitors last year, the Pompidou Centre is one of the most popular museums in Paris, ranking behind only the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay in terms of attendance. The Pompidou Centre, which attracted more than 3 million visitors last year, is one of the most popular museums in the world, ranking in Paris behind only the Louvre (8 million) and the Musée d’Orsay (3.7 million) in terms of popularity.
Opened in 1977, it is named after Georges Pompidou, France’s president between 1969 and 1974. Its closure comes weeks after major renovation work was announced at the Louvre amid heavy criticism that the museum had become overcrowded and unmanageable. For that project, estimated to cost €700-800m, which involves creating a new, more accessible entrance and putting the Mona Lisa in a separate room with its own means of access, the museum will not be closed, though some individual rooms will be, temporarily. It is due to be completed in 2031.
The renovation work will run through to 2030. Those who consider the Pompidou’s planned closure to be lengthy may take solace when looking to Berlin, where visitors wanting to visit the Pergamon Museum, which houses a collection of ancient Greek and Roman art as well as the Pergamon Altar, will have to wait up to 20 years for extensive renovation works to be completed. The museum closed in October 2023.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.