AppointmentAugust 11, 2021
Xavier Rey, New Director of Centre Pompidou
In an official communication on July 27, the Centre Pompidou announced the appointment of Xavier Rey as the new director of the Centre Pompidou. This institution protects the Musée National d'Art Moderne.
Xavier Rey's appointment is part of a change of directives at the Centre Pompidou. His name was officially nominated by the Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, after being proposed by the new president of the Centre Pompidou, Laurent Le Bon, who took office on July 19 after Serge Lasvignes, president of the Centre since 2017, retired in June.
Laurent Le Bon, comments "His dynamism, his goodwill, his experience on the ground and his openness to the arts, combined with his managerial skills, will be essential to carry out the Centre Pompidou's new project successfully."
Xavier Rey will take over on October 1, 2021, two years before the museum closes for four years, for a renovation project, which will cost approximately 200 million euros ($236 million). During that period, the museum intends to raise the Pompidou Center's profile in the regions and circulate its collection of nearly 120,000 works as much as possible by creating partnership agreements with cultural professionals. Xavier Rey will be in charge of drafting the museum's scientific and cultural project that should guide the major works to come. To this end, he will lead, as soon as he takes office, with the museum's teams and other departments, experimental and innovative projects in terms of museography, cultural offerings, and partnerships, based on the objectives, innovation, and multidisciplinarity that characterize the Centre Pompidou. Xavier Rey's project aims to make the MNAM an institution and a collection in constant growth, serving the whole territory and the public.
The new director, who is only 39 years old, will replace Bernard Blistène, who left the Centre Pompidou last month after eight years as director. Xavier Rey has a little more than a decade of experience with French museums. Since 2017, he has directed the Musée de Marseille, which brings together nineteen sites with a collection of more than 120.000 works, where he developed an ambitious exhibitions program such as "Picasso, Voyages Imaginaires," "Masterpieces from the Burrell Collection" (Musée Cantini), "Man Ray and Fashion" (Musée Cantini & Château Borely) or even "Cinq" by Sophie Calle; in 2019, he designed the exhibition "By chance" first project shared by all the Museums of Marseille; he organized the summer season 2021 with the exhibitions "Surrealism in American art" and "Jawlensky, he of the face;" last year he received the prize of 50.000 € "Osez le Musée" (Dare the Museum), which recognizes innovative approaches. He has also been involved in the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Marseilles renovation, which is scheduled to reopen later this year. Before Marseilles, Rey was director of collections at the Musée d'Orsay, where he co-curated the "Portraits de Cézanne" exhibition in 2017. His extensive educational experience includes the study of 18th and 19th-century art.
Xavier Rey's appointment is part of a change of directives at the Centre Pompidou. His name was officially nominated by the Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, after being proposed by the new president of the Centre Pompidou, Laurent Le Bon, who took office on July 19 after Serge Lasvignes, president of the Centre since 2017, retired in June.
Laurent Le Bon, comments "His dynamism, his goodwill, his experience on the ground and his openness to the arts, combined with his managerial skills, will be essential to carry out the Centre Pompidou's new project successfully."
Xavier Rey will take over on October 1, 2021, two years before the museum closes for four years, for a renovation project, which will cost approximately 200 million euros ($236 million). During that period, the museum intends to raise the Pompidou Center's profile in the regions and circulate its collection of nearly 120,000 works as much as possible by creating partnership agreements with cultural professionals. Xavier Rey will be in charge of drafting the museum's scientific and cultural project that should guide the major works to come. To this end, he will lead, as soon as he takes office, with the museum's teams and other departments, experimental and innovative projects in terms of museography, cultural offerings, and partnerships, based on the objectives, innovation, and multidisciplinarity that characterize the Centre Pompidou. Xavier Rey's project aims to make the MNAM an institution and a collection in constant growth, serving the whole territory and the public.
The new director, who is only 39 years old, will replace Bernard Blistène, who left the Centre Pompidou last month after eight years as director. Xavier Rey has a little more than a decade of experience with French museums. Since 2017, he has directed the Musée de Marseille, which brings together nineteen sites with a collection of more than 120.000 works, where he developed an ambitious exhibitions program such as "Picasso, Voyages Imaginaires," "Masterpieces from the Burrell Collection" (Musée Cantini), "Man Ray and Fashion" (Musée Cantini & Château Borely) or even "Cinq" by Sophie Calle; in 2019, he designed the exhibition "By chance" first project shared by all the Museums of Marseille; he organized the summer season 2021 with the exhibitions "Surrealism in American art" and "Jawlensky, he of the face;" last year he received the prize of 50.000 € "Osez le Musée" (Dare the Museum), which recognizes innovative approaches. He has also been involved in the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Marseilles renovation, which is scheduled to reopen later this year. Before Marseilles, Rey was director of collections at the Musée d'Orsay, where he co-curated the "Portraits de Cézanne" exhibition in 2017. His extensive educational experience includes the study of 18th and 19th-century art.
