Metz prepares for the opening of its Centre Pompidou

On May 17, The Centre Pompidou inaugurated its first ¿branch¿ in the city of Metz with an exhibition of masterworks from the collection of the Musée National d¿Art Moderne. This spectacular inaugural exhibition, entitled Chefs-d¿oeuvre?, will remain open until October 25. It is a reflection on the concept, the history, and current relevance of the "work of art." The show includes 780 works by modern and contemporary artists ¿ Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Salvador Dalí, Wassily Kandinsky, and Alberto Giacometti among these. Seven hundred works have been selected from the 65,000 that belong to the Pompidou collection in Paris. The idea of decentralizing the Centre Pompidou had been mulled over since the beginning of the 2000s as part of an international movement to expand prestigious cultural institutions such as the MoMa, the Guggenheim, or the Tate Gallery. More precisely, it began to be considered by then Pompidou director, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, after the success of the "Bilbao model." Cities like Lille, Lyon, and Montpellier were also considered, but Metz ¿ a city of 130,000 inhabitants ¿ was the winner. Located in the northeastern part of France, it is near Germany, Belgium, and Luxemburg, and is an hour and a half from Paris by train. The capital of the Lorraine region and the prefecture of the Moselle department, Metz is one of the cities with the greatest legacy of medieval architecture in France, but is also one of the cities with the least amount of modern art ¿ a fact that contributed heavily in its selection as home for the new Pompidou. The director of this new museum is Laurent Le Bon, former director of the Musée National d¿Art Moderne in Beaubourg and one of the most daring art curators on the French art scene. Le Bon has set a very ambitious goal: to attract 400,000 visitors annually.