Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris

Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (French pronunciation: ​[myze daʁ mɔdɛʁn də paʁi], Paris' Museum of Modern Art) or MAM Paris, is a major municipal museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art of the 20th and 21st centuries, including monumental murals by Raoul Dufy and Henri Matisse.[1] It is located at 11, Avenue du Président Wilson in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.[2]

Not to be confused with Musée National d'Art Moderne.
Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris
Location within Paris
Established1961
LocationPalais de Tokyo, 11 avenue du Président Wilson,
75016 Paris, France
Coordinates48.864422°N 2.297333°E / 48.864422; 2.297333
TypeArt museum
Visitors800,000
DirectorFabrice Hergott
Public transit accessIéna
WebsiteOfficial site

The museum is one of the 14 City of Paris' Museums that have been incorporated since 1 January 2013 in the public institution Paris Musées.

History

Located in the eastern wing of the Palais de Tokyo and constructed for the International Exhibition of Arts and Technology of 1937,[3] the museum was inaugurated in 1961.

The museum reopened in October 2019 after a €10 million redesign by h2o architectes.[4]

Programs

The museum collections include more than 15,000 works from art movements of the 20th century. Exhibitions highlight the European and international art scenes of the 20th century, as well as displaying monographic and thematic exhibitions of trends in today's art. Temporary exhibitions run every six weeks.[3]

Collections

The museum's permanent collection includes works by:

Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, Emile Othon Friesz, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Maurice de Vlaminck, Georges Rouault, Raoul Dufy, Marie Laurencin, Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard, Albert Marquet, Henri Laurens, Jacques Lipchitz, Jean Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, André Lhote, Juan Gris, Alexander Archipenko, Joseph Csaky, Ossip Zadkine, Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia, František Kupka, Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Fernand Léger, Jean Hélion, Auguste Herbin, Joaquín Torres García, Natalia Gontcharova, Luigi Russolo, Amedeo Modigliani, Giorgio de Chirico, Alberto Magnelli, Gino Severini, Kees van Dongen, Bart van der Leck, Jean Arp, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Maurice Utrillo, Suzanne Valadon, André Derain, Moïse Kisling, Marcel Gromaire, Marc Chagall, Chaïm Soutine, Leonard Foujita, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Jean Crotti, Man Ray, Max Ernst, André Masson, Victor Brauner, Hans Bellmer, Roberto Matta, Wifredo Lam, Jean Fautrier, Jean Dubuffet, Bernard Buffet, Pierre Soulages, Nicolas de Staël, Zao Wou Ki, Pierre Alechinsky, Henri Michaux, Étienne-Martin, Antoni Tàpies, Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein, Arman, Martial Raysse, Jean Tinguely, Christo, Victor Vasarely, François Morellet, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Bridget Riley, Daniel Buren, Nam June Paik, Mario Merz, Giuseppe Penone, Luciano Fabro, Simon Hantaï, Delphine Coindet, Bernard Frize, Jean-Michel Othoniel, Robert Rauschenberg, Keith Haring, John Heartfield, James Lee Byars, Peter Doig, Otto Freundlich, Hannah Höch, Hans Hartung, Gerhard Richter, Georg Baselitz, Sigmar Polke, Jörg Immendorff, Wolf Vostell, Andreas Gursky, Markus Lüpertz, Thomas Schütte, Thomas Ruff, Gisèle Freund, Rosemarie Trockel, Albert Oehlen, Per Kirkeby, Marcel Broodthaers, Zeng Fanzhi, and others.

Exhibitions

2010 theft

On 20 May 2010, Vjeran Tomic broke into the museum and stole several paintings after meticulous preparation.[5] The museum reported the overnight theft of five paintings from its collection the following morning. The paintings taken were Le pigeon aux petits pois (Pigeon with Peas) by Pablo Picasso, La Pastorale by Henri Matisse, L'Olivier Près de l'Estaque (Olive Tree near L'Estaque) by Georges Braque, La Femme à l'Éventail (Woman with a Fan) by Amedeo Modigliani and Nature Morte aux Chandeliers (Still Life with Candlestick) by Fernand Léger and were valued at €100 million ( $123 million USD).[6][7] A window had been smashed and CCTV footage showed a masked man taking the paintings.[6] Authorities believe the thief acted alone.[8] The man carefully removed the paintings from their frames, which he left behind.[9]

The theft was investigated by the Brigade de Répression du Banditisme specialist unit of the French Police.[7] It is unclear why the alarm systems in the museum failed to detect the robbery, staff only noticing when they arrived at the museum just before 7:00 am.[7][10]

For fear that investigators were closing in on the thief, accomplices apparently destroyed the paintings.[11] "I threw them into the trash," cried Yonathan Birn, one of three people on trial in the case, "I made the worst mistake of my existence." However, neither the judge or other defendants believe Birn's. The authorities believe all of the paintings were removed from France. Birn's co-defendants testified he was "too smart" to destroy €100 million worth of artwork.[12] The French auctioneer and president of the Association du Palais de Tokyo, Pierre Cornette de Saint-Cyr, commented, "These five paintings are unsellable, so thieves, sirs, you are imbeciles, now return them."

The theft follows the $162 million heist of masterpieces by Cézanne, Degas, Van Gogh and Monet from Foundation E.G. Bührle in Zurich in February 2008 and could be one of the biggest art thefts in history (by value). It has been described as the "heist of the century".[8][13][14]

References
  1. Sarah Belmont (October 11, 2019), Paris Museum of Modern Art unveils €10m revamp of Art Deco home The Art Newspaper.
  2. "Priceless artworks stolen from Paris museum". Financial Times. Pearson PLC. 20 May 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  3. "Musee d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris (City Museum of Modern Art)". Yahoo! Travel. Yahoop!. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  4. Sarah Belmont (October 11, 2019), Paris Museum of Modern Art unveils €10m revamp of Art Deco home The Art Newspaper.
  5. Halpern, Jake (January 14, 2019). "The French Burglar Who Pulled Off His Generation's Biggest Art Heist". www.newyorker.com. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  6. Hewage, Tim (20 May 2010). "Thief Steals Paintings In Paris Art Heist". Sky News. Archived from the original on 26 August 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  7. Jones, Sam (20 May 2010). "Picasso and Matisse masterpieces stolen from Paris museum". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  8. "Matisse, Picasso and other masterpieces stolen from Paris museum". France 24. 20 May 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  9. Bremner, Charles (20 May 2010). "Masked thief steals masterpieces worth €500 million from Paris museum". The Times. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  10. "Five masterpieces stolen from Paris modern art museum". BBC News. BBC. 20 May 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  11. Derek Fincham, Five paintings stolen from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris feared destroyed, 1 February 2017
  12. I threw away $100m of Picasso and Matisse art, says dealer in Paris theft trial, Associated Press, theguardian.com, 30 January 2017
  13. "Thieves steal works by Picasso, others in Paris". The Hindu. 20 May 2010. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  14. "£430 million art stolen from Paris museum in 'heist of the century'". London Evening Standard. 20 May 2010. Archived from the original on 22 May 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
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