Major dates
2018-2019
The Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris is currently being renovated with a view to improved reception facilities in the lobby and greater ease of movement between the different areas. When the renovations have been completed, the entire museum will be accessible to people suffering from impaired mobility. Visitors will also be able to enjoy the fully refurbished restaurant and the return of the bookshop. These large-scale works have been entrusted to the h2o architectes (Charlotte Hubert, Jean-Jacques Hubert and Antoine Santiard), Studio GGSV and, for access facilities, the Chiara Alessio Architecte agency. Full reopening of the museum : Autumn 2019.
2015
The Museum Facebook page reaches over 200,000 likes (September) and has more than 80,000 followers on Twitter (November).
2014
Composition, 1911 by Otto Freundlich (1978-1943), recognized as a major artwork in the cultural heritage, enters the Museum’s collections as a result of sponsorship. This early abstract painting, realised in Paris in 1911, is a milestone in the history of art; it was contemporary with the work of such founding fathers of abstraction as Kandinsky, Kupka and Delaunay. The Museum’s collections are put online. The Museum website gives unlimited, free access to more than 10,000 works.
2013
The exhibition "Keith Haring, the political line" attracts more than 350,000 visitors.
2012
German art dealer and collector Michael Werner makes an exceptional donation to the Museum of 127 works from his personal collection.
His donation includes works by Marcel Broodthaers, James Lee Byars, Gaston Chaissac, André Derain, Otto Freundlich, Etienne-Martin, Robert Filliou, Jörg Immendorff, Per Kirkeby, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Markus Lüpertz, and A. R. Penck.
2011
Launch of the Museum’s Twitter account.
2010
Five paintings are stolen from the Museum’s collection. The paintings taken are Le pigeon aux petits pois (The Pigeon with the Peas) by Picasso, La Pastorale by Matisse, L'Olivier Près de l'Estaque (Olive Tree near l'Estaque) by Braque, La Femme à l'Éventail (Woman with a Fan) by Modigliani and Nature Morte aux Chandeliers (Still Life with Chandeliers) by Léger The “Basquiat” exhibition attracts over 350,000 visitors.
2009
A fresh view of several great artists of the late 20th century and of recent contemporary creation, focusing on new acquisitions. Launch of the Museum’s Facebook page.
2008
Re-hanging of the collections.
The new museum trail is rethought, with the number of works on display increased to over 500 works. There is a new emphasis on diversity of practice. More paintings are displayed, but there are also many sculptures and objects (decorative art and contemporary installations). Photography, video, graphic arts, as well as documents and archives, some of which had never been displayed before, are also presented.
2007
Fabrice Hergott succeeds Suzanne Pagé as Director of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
2001
Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë announces that entrance to the permanent collections of the Museum will be free of charge.
2000
Reopening and re-hanging of the permanent collections.
The Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of Paris and the Museum invite architect Jean-François Bodin to redraw the museum trail for the permanent collections. In the basement, hitherto closed spaces are renovated to create a darkroom in which videos can be shown.
1999
The exhibition "Le Fauvisme ou l’épreuve du feu" (‘Fauvism, or Ordeal by Fire’) attracts more than 400,000 visitors.
1993
The acquisition in 1993 of the recently found, unfinished version of La Danse by Matisse leads to refurbishment of the Salle Matisse by architect Jean-François Bodin.
1988
Suzanne Pagé becomes Director of the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
1976
Refurbishment work is undertaken: Henri Matisse’s La Danse is moved to the former darkroom; the ARC section moves to the first floor. The Musée national d’Art Moderne moves from the West Wing of the Palais de Tokyo to the Centre Georges Pompidou.
1966
1966 sees the creation of the ARC section (Animation, Recherche, Confrontation), the brainchild of Piotr Gaudibert, (then curator of the City of Paris Museums), François Debidour (deputy head of the École des Beaux-Arts) and Bernadette Contensou.
ARC creates a new relationship between the museum and artists, its international outreach making it a benchmark for contemporary art museums.
1964
4 June, La Fée Électricité created by Raoul Dufy for the Pavillon de l’Électricité et de la Lumière at the 1937 Exposition is installed in the former “Salle d’honneur”.
1961
In 1959, André Malraux inaugurates the first Paris Biennale. It is held at the Musée d'Art Moderne until 1982 (apart from 1971).
1961
6 July 1961, after an official opening the day before, the “new rooms at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris” are opened to the public.
1959
In 1959, André Malraux inaugurates the first Paris Biennale. It is held at the Musée d'Art Moderne until 1982 (apart from 1971).
1954
From 1954 to 1969, the building hosts the Salon de la Jeune Peinture, then again from 1972 to 1975.
1953
Dr Maurice Girardin’s bequest to the City of Paris is a determining factor for the Parisian authorities to leave the confines of the now too small Petit Palais and to open a dedicated venue in the Palais de Tokyo.
Henri Matisse’s La Danse is hung between the columns of the entrance hall. The basements are fitted out as storerooms.
1946
De 1946 à 1969, le musée héberge le Salon de Mai et le Salon des réalités nouvelles.
1940
To prevent the Palais de Tokyo being requisitioned by the German authorities, the Prefect of the Seine makes the building available to the artists’ mutual organisation (l’Entraide des Artistes) for the organisation of Salons.
1937
The 1937 Exposition internationale des Arts et Techniques (‘International Exposition of Arts and Technology’) provides an opportunity for Paris to create two museums – one owned by the City of Paris, the other by the French state. The project for this dual purpose building is entrusted to architects Jean-Claude Dondel, André Aubert, Paul Viard and Marcel Dastugue.
The foundation stone is laid on 5 July 1936 by French President Albert Lebrun. The Palais de Tokyo is opened on 24 May 1937.