Centre Pompidou, Paris The Centre Pompidou houses one of the most important museums in the world, the Musée national d´art moderne. Featuring the largest collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe, the museum includes world-class collections of fine art, architecture, graphic art, experimental cinema, design, photography, and new media. The Centre Pompidou is situated in the heart of Paris in the anti-monument created by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, groundbreaking innovators who epitomize the spirit of contemporary architecture. Turning the museum inside out, the architects pushed out passageways and superimposed more than one million square feet on eight huge floors. With its landmark façade, a colorful maze of blue, green, red, and white, the Centre Pompidou is surrounded by a vast public space alive with art and urban activity. The Centre Pompidou opened its doors to the public in 1977 with its national art museum under the direction of visionary curator Pontus Hulten, who established an unerring approach to art rooted in the present and inspired by an international panorama of diverse contemporary art practices with no fixed boundaries or preconceptions. The Centre Pompidou’s vast collections of modern and contemporary art—currently 65,000 works by more than 5,000 artists from 100 countries throughout the world—are the dynamic centerpiece for dialogue and the heart of the museum’s other activities. Unswerving in its curatorial vision and its core mission—to deepen knowledge and understanding about creative works from the twentieth century and those heralding the new millennium—each year the Centre Pompidou holds more than thirty exhibitions and international events.

Centre Pompidou Facts


  1. ◦3,6 million visitors in 2011

  2. ◦More than 180 million visitors since the Centre Pompidou opened in 1977

  3. ◦More than 65,000 artworks by 5,000 artists, representing 100 countries

  4. ◦200,000 square feet of gallery space, with 60,000 square feet dedicated to temporary exhibitions

  5. ◦More than 1,4 million visitors to the new Centre Pompidou-Metz since it opened in 2010

Centre Pompidou, Metz In 2010, the Centre Pompidou has brought its model to the region of Metz, and offered its know-how and collections in a landmark space designed by architects Shigeru Ban and Jean de Gastines. Respecting the core values of the Centre Pompidou, the Centre Pompidou-Metz illustrates through its exhibitions the renewal of the Centre Pompidou’s strategy refocused on its prime vocation, namely to form a platform of exchanges between French society and contemporary creation. It uses only works from the collections of the Centre Pompidou, Musée national d’art moderne. Centre Pompidou Foundation members visiting Paris are invited to all museum openings. For invitations, please contact: Geralynn Krajeck at gkrajeck@centrepompidoufnd.org or 310.843.9769. For information about the Centre Pompidou’s current and upcoming exhibitions, visit www.centrepompidou.fr or www.centrepompidou-metz.fr mailto:gkrajeck@centrepompidoufnd.orghttp://www.centrepompidou.fr/Pompidou/Accueil.nsf/Document/HomePage?OpenDocument&L=2http://www.centrepompidou-metz.fr/en/welcomeshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1shapeimage_3_link_2

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