A Sneak Peek Inside Fondation Cartier’s New Building
As Fondation Cartier marks its 40th anniversary, architect Jean Nouvel unveils its new location, ushering a bold new era.
Image by © Jean Nouvel / ADAGP
At Fondation Cartier’s future premises, the floors are lined with thick, protective cardboard. Its large bay windows along Rue Saint-Honoré are blocked off to outside viewers, and industrial lights illuminate corners of the cavernous venue. Jean Nouvel, the Pritzker Prize-winning architect who conceived the new space, noted that mechanical shades are yet to be installed. Yet for all the work that is still to take place, the contemporary art museum is taking shape.
To mark its 40th anniversary, Fondation Cartier offered journalists a preview glimpse inside its new residence, which is scheduled to open in 2025. Located in the heart of Paris, between the Louvre and Palais-Royale, the Haussmannian building’s facade is a historically protected monument, but inside, a great transformation is underway.
Whereas the Fondation Cartier’s current premise in Paris’s 14th arrondissement is an immense glass building (also designed by Nouvel), its new home is one of steel and stone, its insides measuring 11m tall and 150m long (the length of the Centre Pompidou, Nouvel noted).
Its key architectural features are five steel mobile platforms, each covering 1200m2, which can move up or down to change the building’s layout. Nouvel likened the space’s machinery to that of the theater or opera, in that it provides a setting that can be changed to stage a range of artworks at different scales.
Fondation Cartier never exhibits pre-existing artworks; rather, it commissions artists to create new pieces, then purchases some or all of the work produced. Perrin revealed that the opening exhibition will feature a selection from the foundation’s collection, including as many as 800-1000 artworks from a total of nearly 4500.
During its 40 year history, Fondation Cartier has staged more than 300 exhibitions, both in France and abroad, said Perrin. He stressed the foundation’s absolute separation from the luxury maison Cartier, reiterating that it must remain pure in its artistic mission and will not make business out of it.
During a tour of the museum, Nouvel said he hoped the space would encourage artists to produce work that is timely, provocative, pleasant to share and magical.
“And the cost?” a journalist asked.
“I know it, but I won’t tell,” he replied.