The Foundation of the Swiss artist, cramped in his premises in Montparnasse, will open in 2026, in the former Terminal of Air France, in Invalides.
By Philippe Dagen
Deferred for more than a year, the news is finally made public: Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) will have its large museum in the center of Paris. The opening is announced for 2026. The Swiss artist already had a museum, since 2018, the Giacometti Institute, created in the 14 e arrondissement of Paris by the Alberto and Annette Giacometti Foundation. This holds a collection of an exceptional abundance: 95 paintings, 260 bronzes, 550 plaster, thousands of drawings and engravings, such considerable archives and a large part of the artist’s library. But, precisely, to show them, the 350 square meters located on rue Victor-Schœlcher, in a mansion of Art Deco style in Montparnasse, proved to be cramped, even due to the success of the exhibitions mounted by the Foundation, in Paris and a All over the world, and the artist’s constant notoriety.
Director of the Institute since 2014, Catherine Grenier understood very early on that she needed a new, larger space. These will be 6,000 square meters of what was first a station, which became the Terminal of Air France, at the corner of the Esplanade des Invalides and the Quai d’Orsay.
At first, another location had been chosen, closer to the current institute: that of the old Saint-Vincent-de-Paul hospital, located in the 14th arrondissement, and whose medical activities have ceased In 2012. The Foundation joined a property developer to participate in the then open competition. But, at the end of 2019, the project was ultimately not retained.
“We could not stay on this failure, due to an error of the promoter, whose proposal was not in accordance with the requirements of the competition, says Catherine Grenier. The city, who saw our project with a good eye, was quite marria of this setback and proposed to help us find a place so that we stay in Paris. “It would not have been difficult for the establishment to find where to move, including outside France. “We haven’t really thought about it, but others have thought about it a lot for us, adds Catherine Grenier. It was not with our intention. Annette Giacometti wanted the collection to stay in Paris. But if we had Not found a place, would we have stayed indefinitely? It is not certain. “
” A real large space, magnificent “
This fiasco also convinces management to change economics. “In Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, we depended on the property developer, which carried out apartments and sold them, which financed most of our work. We no longer wanted to register in such a model.” Then begins the quest of a patron. It will be Xavier Niel (individual shareholder of the world). At the request of Catherine Grenier, he replied: “I can offer you a place. I am engaged in an operation to requalify a space and we do not yet have a defined cultural project.” This space is therefore The ex-terminal of Air France. The operation is conducted by the financier in partnership with the groups Emerige and Nexity.
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