An enormous privately-held major collection of modern and contemporary artwork, including many works by Mark Rothko and Damien Hirst, will finally find a public home in Paris, after decades of efforts. It will be housed in the historic Bourse de Commerce building at Les Halles.
The collection, amassed by Francois Pinault, whose luxury-goods businesses include the Christie’s auction house, has only been seen in private showings in Venice. The Bourse building, once the city’s grain exchange and a neighbor of the former Les Halles food markets, will be renovated by Pinarult under a 50-year lease. It is across a large open space from the new “canopy” that covers the underground Les Halles shopping center.
Pinault had once hoped to build a museum west of the city center, on an island in the Seine that was the site of a former Renault factory, but ran into planning issues. When the new museum opens in 2018, its collections will rotate through the Paris site and two sites in Venice where part is now shown.
For more details, from TheLocal.fr, click HERE
Photo: mbzt/Wikimedia
