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.
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 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 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.
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.
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 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..
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.
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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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”.
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.
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.
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.
