Paris’s Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, has announced plans for a new location across from the Louvre. The new site, set to open in 2025, is a classic Haussmannian building on Place du Palais-Royal, currently being renovated by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel. Nouvel, who designed the foundation’s current glass-and-steel home on Boulevard Raspail in 1994, is known for creating open, airy interiors without partition walls, making exhibitions easily adaptable.
Originally constructed in 1855 as a five-star hotel during Napoleon III’s urban redevelopment initiative, the building later became a department store in 1863 and then the Louvre des Antiquaires, housing antique shops and galleries, in 1978. Nouvel stated that the new site demands boldness and courage from artists, offering unique spaces and diverse exhibition forms that cannot be replicated elsewhere.
Nouvel’s renovation plans include massive bay windows for the exterior and flexible halls with mobile platforms inside, allowing the 91,500-square-foot space to be easily adapted. The design features layered vertical spaces up to 36 feet high, open arches, and walkways providing various viewing perspectives.
Founded in Jouy-en-Josas, France, in 1984 and relocated to Paris a decade later, the Fondation Cartier holds around 4,000 works in its collection. Recent exhibitions have featured artists like Claudia Andujar, Matthew Barney, Malick Sidibé, and Sarah Sze.
Sayart / Amia Nguyen, amyngwyen13@gmail.com
