PARIS: The Pompidou Center in Paris, one of the world’s top modern art museums, will shut down for refurbishment for five years from 2025, France’s culture minister said Wednesday.
The Pompidou houses work by artists from Pablo Picasso to Wassily Kandinsky and welcomed more than three million visitors last year. But its ground-breaking “inside out” structure by architects Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, that displays pipework on the outside, has suffered serious wear and tear.
The institution is also facing stiff competition from newer Parisian galleries created by the mega-wealthy Louis Vuitton Foundation and billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault.
Culture minister Rima Abdul Malak said the refurbishment would “enable its survival” and hailed the museum for hosting 300 million visitors since it was opened in 1977.
The Pompidou boasts Europe’s biggest modern art collection and is the world’s leading lender of paintings and sculptures, lending out between 8,000 and 10,000 a year to other museums and galleries.
The building’s first major upgrade in its history will cost 262 million euros ($287 million) and will see the structure updated for fire safety, disability access and general repairs.
On the inside, gallery spaces will be reworked, new areas will be installed for younger visitors and its hugely popular public library will be expanded.
The upgrade was initially planned to run from 2023 to 2027 to allow the building to reopen for its 50th anniversary, but it now will not reopen until 2030.
The Pompidou has sought to boost its coffers recently with international deals, signing an agreement with Saudi Arabia in March to help build a modern art museum at the Al-Ula heritage site.
It already has franchise museums in Shanghai, Brussels and Malaga, Spain, as well as a large outpost in Metz in eastern France.
It is also working with Korean business group Hanwha on a series of exhibitions in Seoul.
France to shut Pompidou museum for five years in 2025
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France to shut Pompidou museum for five years in 2025
- The Pompidou houses work by artists from Pablo Picasso to Wassily Kandinsky and welcomed more than three million visitors last year
- Culture minister Rima Abdul Malak said the refurbishment would "enable its survival"
Sale of Saudi artist Safeya Binzagr’s work sets record at Sotheby’s auction in Riyadh
RIYADH: A painting by Saudi artist Safeya Binzagr sold for $2.1 million at Sotheby’s “Origins II” auction in Riyadh on Saturday, emerging as the top lot of the evening and setting a new auction record for a Saudi artist.
The work, “Coffee Shop in Madina Road” (1968), sold for $1.65 million before the buyer’s premium, the additional fee paid by the purchaser to the auction house on top of the hammer price.
The result nearly doubled the previous auction record for a Saudi artist and became the most valuable artwork ever sold at auction in the Kingdom. It also ranks as the third-highest price achieved for an Arab artist at auction.
It was presented as part of “Origins II,” Sotheby’s second auction staged in Saudi Arabia, comprising 62 modern and contemporary lots and bringing together Saudi artists alongside regional and international names.
Collectors from more than 40 countries participated in the auction, with around one-third of the lots sold to buyers within Saudi Arabia.
The sale totaled $19.6 million, exceeding its pre-sale estimate and bringing the combined value of works offered across “Origins” and “Origins II” to over $32 million.
Saudi artists were central to the evening’s results. All nine Saudi works offered found buyers, achieving a combined total of $4.3 million, well above pre‑sale expectations.
Ashkan Baghestani, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art for the Middle East, told Arab News at the auction that “Safeya made more than any other artist tonight, which is incredible.”
He said the results demonstrated Sotheby’s broader objective in the Kingdom.
“The results tonight show exactly what we’re trying to do here. Bring international collectors to Saudi Arabia and give them exposure to Saudi artists, especially the pioneers.”
All nine works by Saudi artists offered in the sale found buyers, generating a combined $4.3 million. Additional auction records were set for Egyptian artist Ahmed Morsi and Sudanese artist Abdel Badie Abdel Hay.
An untitled work from 1989 by Mohammed Al-Saleem sold for a triple estimate of $756,000, while a second work by the artist, “Flow” from 1987, achieved $630,000.
The sale opened with the auction debut of Mohamed Siam, whose “Untitled (Camel Race)” sold for $94,500. Also making his first auction appearance, Dia Aziz Dia’s prize-winning “La Palma (The Palma)” achieved $226,800.
The sale coincided with the opening week of the Contemporary Art Biennale in Riyadh, reinforcing the city’s growing role as a focal point for both cultural institutions and the art market.
Baghestani added that Saudi modern artists are now receiving long‑overdue recognition in the market.
“There’s so much interest and so much demand, and the price is where it should be,” he said.
International highlights included works by Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Anish Kapoor, underscoring Saudi Arabia’s growing role as a destination for major global art events and collectors.
Picasso’s “Paysage,” painted during the final decade of the artist’s life, sold for $1,600,000, becoming the second most valuable artwork sold at auction in Saudi Arabia.
Seven works by Lichtenstein from the personal collection of the artist and his wife, including collages, prints, works on paper and sculptures, all found buyers. Warhol was represented in the sale with two works: “Disquieting Muses (After de Chirico),” which sold for $1,033,200, and a complete set of four screenprints of “Muhammad Ali,” which achieved $352,000.
Baghestani said the strength of the results was closely tied to the material’s freshness. “These were not works from the trade. Some of them had not been seen since the 1970s,” he said.
