Pinault Collection at the Bourse du Commerce – our pictures and video of the opening

The renewal of the Bourse du Commerce with the Pinault Collection was one of the events the most expected in 2021. This new foundation is to welcome François Pinault’s art collection, a major art connoisseur, and is expected to reinforce the attractiveness of the Halles district… The opening is scheduled on May 22, opening free of charge for a few days! Discover our pictures taken during the premiere.

Remember this name well: Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection, because it will be a major success! (Almost) all of us know François Pinault or Venice Palazzo Grassi… The French businessman can be proud to have one of the most beautiful art collections in the world and so far, France could not enjoy it.

This is now settled since 2016, when the city of Paris offered him a wonderful setting to display a few of his masterpieces: the Bourse du Commerce in the heart of the Halles area. As the project was planned for 2018, renovations took longer than expected but they are done. The opening is planned on May 22!

On May 22, 23, and 24, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., three days free of charge are held and will take place in compliance with instated health guidelines including mandatory online booking. Following these days, the museum will open every day excluding on Tuesdays – weekly closing day – from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Given the health constraints, online booking will still be necessary to access the museum.

The historic building has been renovated by Tadao Ando (TAAA), Pierre-Antoine Gatier – chief architect from Monuments historiques – NeM agency – Lucie Niney and Thibault Marca – and the SETEC Bâtiment. Furniture has been designed by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.

And you can expect a visual slap with the magnificent cupola shining a light on the monumental mural and a few works of art. The place respects the round shape of the building. Ando wanted “a new space to interlock what already exists inside” including a double staircase.

When introducing the project to the national press, Pinault-Collection director general Jean-Jacques Aillagon is said to have explained “the Bourse du Commerce will be the place where the unexpected can become obvious, a place revealing creation in the making and a mirror of the world”.

According to the French businessman, this will be “a place open to artists’ installations like in Venice, and that will aim at being instructive and playful targeting very diverse audiences and especially those who are usually far from contemporary art”.

Over 6,800sqm of exhibition space are planned, with mediation areas and a restaurant by Michel and Sébastien Bras, La Halle aux Grains. The whole covering 5 floors, from the studio set on the second basement to the 3^rd floor. 10,000 works of art gathered in the Pinault collection to make you enjoy wonderful discoveries in Paris. A selection has been made for the inaugural exhibition including masterpieces by Sherman, Trouvé, Fisher, Lavier and even Stingel. They are to be found in the 7 galleries around the rotunda.

After a deal, the monument now houses the Pinault Collection for at least 50 years, the duration of the lease instated between the two parties. This renovation is a beautiful opportunity to visit this remarkable building from the 18^th and 19^th centuries as several parts are listed as historic monuments.

A new life for the building, vestige of a circular corn market set in the middle of one of the biggest housing projects in Paris in the 18^th century, covered by the first iron and cast-iron cupola in the 19^th century.

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