Paris is no stranger to reinvention—and this fall, the city adds another cultural landmark to its legacy, with an architectural feat that will usher in yet another splendid site to visit, and more easily, too. On October 25, the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain opens its spectacular new doors at 2 Place du Palais-Royal, in the heart of Paris, right across from the Louvre.
We at 56Paris Real Estate find that part of what makes Paris rich and beautiful is the ever-evolving, generously cross-pollinating landscape of art, culture, and history. Few cities, in fact, can boast such a density of treasures in one space.
We’ve loved the building that has housed the Fondation Cartier until recently. Now it’s relocating to a historic building whose interior has been radically redesigned by Pritzker Prize-winning French architect Jean Nouvel.
This isn't just a change of address—it's a bold reimagining of what a contemporary art space can be. Marrying modular innovation with Haussmannian heritage, the architectural project opens generously up to the city with its vast bay windows. And with five mobile platforms, its dynamic architecture reimagines the possibilities of exhibition-making. Past and future converge—like so many places in this layered city.
A New Look for a Historic Site
The new Fondation Cartier occupies a 19th-century building originally constructed for the 1855 Universal Exposition (Exposition Universelle)—Paris's first World's Fair. The new Fondation Cartier spans more than 90,000 square feet, including almost 70,000 square feet of exhibition space across three levels in the 1st arrondissement. With its iconic arcades and stately façade, the building was once a symbol of modernity in the era of Baron Haussmann’s grand urban redesign of the City of Light.
The five-story building—occupying an entire urban block between the rue de Rivoli, the place du Palais-Royal, and the rue Saint-Honoré—was home to an iconic hotel, the Grand Hôtel du Louvre, and an innovative street-level department store, the Grands Magasins du Louvre, one of the city's earliest after the Left Bank’s Bon Marché.
The Grand Hôtel, the largest in Europe at the time, operated with 700 rooms and a staff of more than 1,200. Features such as interpreters and guides, a post office, telegraph room, and currency exchange office completed the picture for guests come to see the Universal Exposition. Modern for its time, the hotel included numerous bathrooms, 20 lavatories, and two steam-powered elevators.
While the Grand Hôtel closed in 1887, the Grands Magasins expanded and continued operating until 1974. In 1978, the Louvre des Antiquaires took over, with 240 antiques shops on three levels. For more than a century, this stunning space, built during the first phase of the major public works conducted by Baron Haussmann, has shaped the cultural and social life of central Paris.
A New Architectural Chapter: Light and Space
Fast-forward to today, and Jean Nouvel—the visionary French architect behind recent, contemporary city landmarks like the Musée du Quai Branly and Philharmonie de Paris—has transformed the building's interior into a strikingly flexible exhibition space for contemporary art. His design features five mobile platforms that move vertically within a glass-roofed central space, adapting to the evolving needs of exhibitions and performances.
Behind its preserved façade lies a dynamic interior, essentially a space where art, architecture, and innovation converge. Building a giant internal “machine,” with vast platforms that could rise and fall beneath the glass ceilings covering the mezzanine, was quite a challenge. Indeed, an exhibition of photographs by filmmaker, screenwriter, and photographer Alain Guiraudie, titled No Public Access, was viewable in the Galerie Valois of the Palais-Royal – Muséee du Louvre metro station, documenting the transformation of the construction site.
Light pours in from massive bay windows that run all the way along the façades—Nouvel’s echo of 19th-century storefronts—blurring the line between city and gallery, past and present. They reinforce this unique urban space and merge the experiences of the street, the historic arcades, and the interior spaces.
What Defines the Fondation Cartier as a Contemporary Art Space?
Since its inception by Cartier president Alain Dominique Perrin in 1984, the Fondation Cartier has stood out for its interdisciplinary spirit, showcasing everything from contemporary art and photography to science, architecture, and ecology. Its unique collection derives from the fact that working in close collaboration with artists, it presents the work of established names, offers young artists a chance to debut, and incorporates works into its collection.
Today, the collection comprises more than 4,500 works by 500 artists of 60 different nationalities, providing a great diversity of themes that resonate with our time. From American installation artist Sarah Sze to Colombian textile artist Olga de Amaral or Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide, the collection isn't limited to visual arts but also embraces architecture, human and non-human sciences, and ecology. Whether the works use the most advanced technologies or take root in ancestral skills, they provide an outline of contemporary art.
A Legacy of Breaking Boundaries
The Fondation’s previous home on Boulevard Raspail—also designed by Nouvel—was celebrated for its transparency and integration with the outdoors. In 1994, the Fondation Cartier moved into the fully transparent glass and steel structure. Full of reflections, the building opened out both onto a back garden—designed by German landscape artist Lothar Baumgarten—and onto the city. It also offered an unprecedented context for artists who were invited to exhibit there.
But the move to Palais-Royal marks a new chapter: one that blends urban history with radical innovation, making space for a new generation of artists and ideas.
The Inaugural Show: the Beginning of a New Adventure?
To mark the opening, the Fondation is unveiling Exposition Générale, an ambitious exhibition drawn from its vast collection. On view through August 2026, it brings together nearly 600 works by over 100 artists—from iconic figures to emerging voices—who’ve helped shape the institution since its founding in 1984.
The title itself nods to the 19th-century “general exhibitions” once held in the Grands Magasins du Louvre, which brought together art objects and fashion under one roof—much like this new iteration of the Fondation aims to do. These “general exhibitions” served as spaces of discovery and social encounter and offered a new understanding of material culture. The building may be seen as a symbol of modernity in Paris, founded on a philosophy of openness.
It’s an exciting moment, when the density of history and contemporary art will be even greater in the heart of Paris. With the Pinault Collection, the Louvre, and other art historic and contemporary collections nearby, these few blocks in the heart of Paris serve as a space for the meeting of old and new. Which is one of the things we love most in this beautiful city.
Make This Your Neighborhood
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