Paris’s Fondation Cartier Makes Its Grand Return in a Former Department Store

Paris Art Week is filled with vibrant events, the flashiest of which will, of course, be Art Basel Paris. Equally attention-grabbing in its own way is an event of a different sort: the reopening of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, which will inaugurate its new space on October 25.

Created in 1984 by Alain Dominique Perrin, then the president of Cartier International, at the suggestion of artist César, the foundation will reopen its doors at 2 Place du Palais-Royal, near major cultural landmarks such as the Louvre and François Pinault’s private museum, the Bourse de Commerce. The foundation’s lease is set for two consecutive terms that will allow this four-decade-old foundation to be here for 40 more years.

Constructed for the 1855 Exposition Universelle in a Haussmannian style, the building first served as the Grand Hôtel du Louvre, a majestic five-story hotel showcasing France’s industrial progress during the Second Empire. In 1887, it was transformed into the Grands Magasins du Louvre, an iconic department store known for its innovative retail spaces and themed exhibitions, and in the 1970s, it was renovated into the Louvre des Antiquaires, hosting over 240 antique shops and art galleries until its closure in 2019 due to declining attendance.

While the arcades along Rue de Rivoli—originally designed by Charles Percier and Pierre François Léonard Fontaine—preserve the building’s architectural dialogue with the historic district, the interior has been entirely reimagined by French architect Jean Nouvel, who was responsible for the Fondation Cartier’s previous glass-and-steel home on Boulevard Raspail. “Our building is the only one in the neighborhood with a seamlessly unified architectural program on the ground floor, accessible through any door along its 150-meter [492-foot] facade,” said Beatrice Grenier, director of strategic and international projects at the Fondation Cartier and cocurator of the inaugural exhibition.

Nouvel’s new design prioritizes openness and flexibility, with natural light filtering through the galleries. At the heart of the project is an innovative modular system composed of five movable platforms (from 2,150 square feet to 3,900 square feet) made of recycled steel, each capable of adjusting to 11 different height positions. This cutting-edge infrastructure, fostering adaptability and responsiveness, allows for a wide range of spatial configurations. “We are situated directly across from the Louvre, an institution defined by a classical typology—with linear galleries and a chronological presentation,” said Grenier. “Rather than a traditional approach grounded in the narrative of objects, here we are immersed in the narrative of ideas.”

This architectural project extends Nouvel’s long-standing reflection on what a 21st-century museum should be—not a static repository for artworks, but rather a dynamic, experimental platform for cultural exchange and creative dialogue. A glass canopy, recalling those that once lined Rue Saint-Honoré and Rue de Marengo, connects the experience of the street with the interior. A transparent layout allows views through the entire building—from Rue de Rivoli to Place du Palais-Royal—reinterpreting the logic of the traditional storefront window once used to display goods to passersby. Large ground-floor windows open the building to the city, establishing immediate visual continuity.

Out of the 91,500 square feet accessible to the public, 69,965 are devoted to exhibitions—including the inaugural show, whose title—“Exposition Générale”(General Exhibition)—alludes to the late 19th-century displays of the Grands Magasins du Louvre department store. This presentation offers a deep dive into nearly 600 works by more than 100 artists who have shaped the Fondation’s history. Which naturally raises the question: who’s not in the line-up?

Nan Goldin, whose work has appeared at least twice at the foundation over the past decades, is absent, though not for any particular reason—she will soon be the focus of a dedicated show at the Grand Palais opening in March of next year. Raymond Hains’s Du Grand Louvre aux 3 Cartier is also missing, though only temporarily: it won’t be shown until June 2026. First exhibited at the Fondation Cartier in 1994—the year of its inauguration on Boulevard Raspail—this outdoor photographic installation documents the modernization of the Louvre, including the construction of I. M. Pei’s iconic glass pyramid. The work recalls a time when giant advertising posters adorned the facades overlooking Place du Palais-Royal, drawing passersby into the Grands Magasins du Louvre department store.

The display opens with “Machines d’architecture,” a section that reflects Fondation Cartier’s seminal commitment to architecture as a multi-purpose space for experimentation. “The first platform can be seen as a monument-free extension of Paris with Agnès Varda’s trunk, for example,” said Grenier. She was referring to Varda’s Nini on her tree (2019), a sculpture of a cat perched on a trunk, which was part of the Fondation’s 2019 “Nous les Arbres” show. Highlights include Alessandro Mendini’s playful Petite Cathédrale (1999-2002), Jun’ya Ishigami’s ethereal Chapel of Valley (2018), and Freddy Mamani’s site-specific Salón de eventos. These are contrasted with the utopian urban visions of Bodys Isek Kingelez and Mamadou Cissé, who reimagine the city as a tool for social transformation.

“Being Nature,” the show’s second section, shifts the focus from the built to the living, bringing the complexity of forest ecosystems into the museum. Works by Claudia Andujar and the Yanomami community raise urgent questions about Indigenous land and cultural preservation, while a site-specific soundscape by Soundwalk Collective and Bernie Krause immerses visitors in the sensory experience of the natural world. Miracéus, a 2003-04 installation made of thousands of feathers collected by Solange Pessoa, is one of the Fondation’s most recent acquisitions—and one of the exhibition’s most memorable works.

The “Making Things” section explores contemporary creation through craft, materiality, and ancestral know-how, from Andrea Branzi’s open steel pavilion beneath the fifth platform to Olga de Amaral’s monumental woven walls and Jean-Michel Othoniel’s glass sculptures on the first floor. Each section can stretch across multiple gallery levels. “That’s the whole point,” said Grenier. “You glimpse a work from a distance, turn away, then walk up to it with a new perspective after seeing other objects.”

“A Real World” presents speculative—at times dystopian—yet deeply imaginative visions of our contemporary condition. This section offers Sarah Sze’s Tracing Fallen Sky, whose initial presentation was cut short by the Covid pandemic, a renewed moment of visibility. This installation—composed of a concave, mirror‑like floor structure and stainless steel fragments, video projections, everyday objects, and a pendulum that swings irregularly—explores how the proliferation of digital images has transformed our relationship to time and memory. Also on view is EXIT by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, based on an original concept by philosopher Paul Virilio. The data-driven installation uses information gathered by scientists to map various forms of global migration—economic, political, and environmental. It was updated in 2025 to coincide with the inaugural exhibition of the Fondation Cartier at Place du Palais-Royal.

There is a bittersweet quality to Cai Guo-Qiang’s The Vague Border at the Edge of Time / Space Project (1991), one of seven folding panels created using gunpowder. This particular piece was acquired years ago by a former organizing committee, while others from the same series have since entered major institutions such as the Guggenheim. What might appear as a gap—or even a curatorial misstep—simply reflects the contingencies of institutional history. Yet unlike the Museum of Modern Art, which actively follows a deaccessioning-acquisition policy, removing works from its permanent collection to fund new purchases, the Fondation Cartier has sold very little of its holdings. Its collection is shaped less by strategic trade-offs than by a sustained sense of loyalty to the artists it supports.

Because of their sustainable approach and their long-term relationship with the Fondation, Formafantasma was charged with the exhibition design. Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, the founders of the Milan- and Rotterdam-based studio had featured as artists in the 2019 “Young Artists in Europe. Metamorphoses”show. Their collaboration with the foundation continued with the “Mondo Reale” presentation at the 2022 Triennale Milano, and with the exhibitions “Cambio” and “Oltre Terra in Paris.” For “Exposition Générale,” theItalian duo has imagined fabric displays to guide the visitors through the artworks and exhibition signage. “Textiles are important—they reference the era of department stores, where there was no hierarchy between mediums,” said Grenier.

The move was an opportunity for Fondation Cartier to expand its contemporary art program with two additional spaces that reflect the diversity of 21st-century artistic expression. A new auditorium will host performances, concerts, shows, and a vibrant schedule of talks and debates, offering a platform where creators can engage in dialogue—either as extensions of or counterpoints to the exhibitions. A bookstore will feature a rich selection of cross-disciplinary works, with a strong emphasis on the Fondation’s own publications, developed in close collaboration with artists.

Looking ahead to 2026, the Fondation will inaugurate La Manufacture, a 3,230-square-foot educational space on the first floor dedicated to art education for all ages and backgrounds. Inspired by traditions of learning through gesture, the space will emphasize the “intelligence of the hand” as a pedagogical foundation for workshops, creative programs, and educational initiatives. A high-end restaurant will also open on-site, led by a world-renowned chef—whose identity, for now, remains a closely guarded secret.