Paris – Bourse de Commerce

Show notes

Louvre, Musée d'Orsay and Centre Pompidou: an exciting newcomer has joined the ranks of the great art museums in 2021. The Bourse de Commerce is showing works from the collection of multi-billionaire François Pinault. He has not only built up one of the most financially strongest corporate groups in Europe (including Gucci and Yves Saint-Laurent), but is also one of the most influential collectors of contemporary art in the world. His collection is correspondingly high-calibre and includes works by Damien Hirst, Mark Rothko and Andy Warhol.

After two museums in Venice, the Bourse de Commerce is Pinault's third, but also his largest private museum. He covered the costs of remodelling the Bourse and in return was granted the right to use the building for 50 years.

The fact that such a top-class art museum was able to open just five minutes' walk from the Louvre is also due to a competition between multi-billionaires: The Bourse de Commerce is the answer to the Fondation Louis Vuitton in the Bois de Boulogne. This was realised by the second French private collector with a fortune in the billions, Bernard Arnault, founder of the luxury brand group LVMH.

Paris and all art lovers will benefit from this museum battle and can rejoice. What you should know for your visit to the Bourse de Commerce:

• Pay attention to the architecture! The circular shape of the building immediately catches the eye, but the ingenious thing about the remodelling is the second rotunda that star architect Tadao Ando had placed inside the building. This concrete cylinder not only serves as an exhibition space, but the staircases that lead to the various showrooms also wind their way along it.

• There is no permanent exhibition on show, but instead four to six changing exhibitions curated from Pinault's collection. From painting and photography to installations and video art, everything is on display. Pinault's collection comprises around 10,000 works by almost 350 artists.

• The eye-catcher is the large glass dome, under which a panoramic painting runs. Six different artists worked on it in the 19th century and their paintings show the four points of the compass and the different continents.

• Be sure to pre-book your tickets online: https://www.pinaultcollection.com/en/boursedecommerce/deutsch

Address: 2 rue de Viarmes

• And if you want to enjoy top cuisine with a dream view, you can reserve a table at the Bourse de Commerce restaurant. Especially at lunchtime, this is a comparatively affordable option for culinary art at this level: Michelin-starred chef Michel Bras and his son Sébastien are responsible for the cuisine at Halle aux grains.

Halle aux Grains https://www.halleauxgrains.bras.fr/

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This podcast is based on the German original "places to go" (https://places-to-go.podigee.io/) hosted by Kathrin Sander & Inka Schmeling. It's been monologized, translated and produced with AI-support.