The Georges Pompidou Center is one of the great attractions of Paris. It is a true cultural center, attracting everyone for its scale, its architecture (still modern, progressive and exciting to this day), its front public spaces that are always packed with performing artists and crowds of spectators, and about all, for its exciting cultural programs of all kinds.
Georges Pompidou Center houses the National Museum of Modern Art with an impressive collection of 20th century art. It is also dedicated to all forms of modern and contemporary works, including literature, theater, film, and music. It is the fifth most visited attraction in Paris with 3.8 million visitors a year.
History of the Center Pompidou
This popular center of Paris was the brainchild of President Georges Pompidou, who first envisioned a cultural center focusing entirely on all modern creations in 1969. The building was designed by British architect Richard Rogers and Italian architects Renzo Piano and Gianfranco Franchini, and it is probably one of the most distinctive architectural designs in the world. It opened on January 31, 1977 with revolutionary ideas, design and technical specifications, although the idea of moving floors up or down internally to create spaces of different sizes was never realized.
It was too expensive to make and too disruptive for the building.
The first directors of the museum put on some impressive shows: Paris – New York, Paris – Berlin, Paris – Moscow, Paris – Paris, Vienna: birth of a century and more. It was an exciting time and it led to more acquisitions.
In 1992, the Center expanded to enjoy live performances, films, lectures, and discussions. He also took over the Industrial Design Center, adding a collection of architectural and design works. It closed for 3 years between 1997 and 2000 due to renovations and additions.
El Museo Nacional de Arte Moderno-Center for Industrial Creation
The museum houses more than 100,000 works from 1905 to today. Starting with the original collections taken from the Luxembourg Museum and the Jeu de Paume, the acquisitions policy was expanded to include leading artists who were not in the original collections such as Giorgio de Chirico, René Magritte, Piet Mondrian and Jackson Pollock, as well as Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol, Lucia Fontana and Yves Klein.
Collection of photographs. The Center Pompidou is also home to the largest photography collections in Europe consisting of 40,000 prints and 60,000 negatives from major historical and individual collections. This is the place to see May Ray, Brassaï, Brancusi and New Vision and surreal artists. The collection is in the Galerie de Photographies.
The design collection is quite comprehensive, encompassing modern pieces from France, Italy and Scandinavia and names like Elieen Gray, Ettore Sottsass Jr, Philippe Starck and Vincent Perrottet. There are one-of-a-kind prototypes and rare pieces that you won’t see anywhere else.
The Cinema Collection began in 1976 with a program called A history of the cinema . The idea was to buy 100 experimental films. From this starting point, it has grown to 1,300 works by visual artists and film directors, with an emphasis on work on the edge of cinema. Therefore, it covers artists’ films, film installations, videos, and HD works.
The New Media Collection is the largest in the world. New media jobs run from multimedia installations to CR-ROMs and websites from 1963 to the present day with works by the likes of Doug Aitken and Mona Hatoum.
Around 20.00 drawings and engravings make up The Graphic Collection of works on paper. Again, the collection expanded from the original works to include those of Victor Brauner, Marc Chagall, Robert Delaunay, Jean Dubuffet, Marcel Duchamp, Wassily Kandinsky, Matisse, Joan Miró, and others. The policy of allowing acquisitions to be accepted in lieu of inheritance tax has brought in works by artists such as Alexander Calder, Francis Bacon, Mark Rothko, and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Exhibitions
There is always a series of exhibitions on, covering all artistic disciplines.
Visiting the Center Pompidou
On the right bank of Paris, the Center is in the Beaubourg district. There are many activities around here, so plan a whole day and allow at least half a day for the Center Pompidou.
Place Georges Pompidou , 4th district
Tel.: 33 (0) 144 78 12 33
Practical information
Open: every day except Tuesday from 11 am to 10 pm (exhibitions close at 9 pm); Thursdays at 11pm only for exhibitions on level 6
Admission : The museum and exhibitions ticket includes all exhibits, the museum and the view of Paris. Adult € 14, reduced € 11
View of the Paris entrance (without entrance to the museum or exhibitions) € 3
Free the first Sunday of every month
Free with the Paris Museum Pass, valid for 60 museums and monuments. 2 days € 42; 4 days € 56; 6 days € 69
Tours of the collections and exhibitions are available.
Bookstores
There are three bookstores at Center Pompidou. You can access the bookstore on level zero, as well as the designer boutique on the mezzanine that has great and unusual items, without paying for tickets to downtown.
Eat at the Center Pompidou
Georges Restaurant on level 6 is the more formal restaurant. Great food, great cocktails (and wine and beer), and spectacular views. Open every day from noon to 2pm.
Mezzanine Café – Snack Bar
At level 1, this is for light snacks and is open every day except Tuesday from 11am to 9pm
Edited by Mary Anne Evans
