Fondation Cartier from 2025, Place du Palais-Royal, Paris. Interior Architecture by Jean Nouvel. Photo © Luc Boegly
In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain unveiled plans for a new landmark building designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel.
Located on the historic Place du Palais-Royal in Paris, this groundbreaking space is set to open its doors to the public by the end of 2025. Following a major architectural gesture on Boulevard Raspail in 1994, this new building conceived by Jean Nouvel marks a new chapter in the history of the Fondation Cartier, which once again positions itself as a significant actor in the ongoing urban and cultural development of the city of Paris, as well as on the global contemporary art scene.
A historic landmark reimagined by Jean Nouvel for the Fondation Cartier
Set within an imposing Haussmannian building, originally constructed as part of Napoleon III’s urban redevelopment initiative – it was first inaugurated as the Grand Hôtel du Louvre in 1855.
The site later became the Grands Magasins du Louvre in 1863 and was eventually converted into the Louvre des Antiquaires in 1978.
Jean Nouvel’s new building project for the Fondation Cartier sets the architecture in dialogue with the site’s historical urban context. Entirely open to the outside, the facades are composed of large bay windows that open up onto the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Rue de Rivoli and Place du Palais-Royal, offering both visitors and pedestrians fresh perspectives of the city through the building.
The new site encompasses a vast 8,500 square meters of public spaces; 6,500 square meters of exhibition space, including five mobile platforms covering 1,200 square meters which can modify the surface area and the navigation of the building. Their positioning enables the creation of layered vertical spaces which can reach up to 11 meters high. The space also features 1,200 square meters of walkways overlooking the volumes created by the platforms. With the transformation of this historical building, Nouvel enables a perpetual renewal of the space, offering unparalleled opportunities for creative freedom and artistic experimentation, in line with the Fondation Cartier’s core mission and dedication to artists.
Building site view of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain’s future premises, place du Palais-Royal, Paris. Rendering of platform 1 looking onto the Rue de Rivoli © Jean Nouvel / ADAGP, Paris, 2024
"From its creation, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has based its activity around three major principles that still hold true today. The first is the central position granted to artists and artistic production, including artists already known to the general public as well as emerging figures. The second is the focus on transversality: the Fondation Cartier is a space dedicated to all forms of creation, from painting to photography, architecture to film, design to fashion, and more. The third is the strict separation between the Fondation Cartier’s activities and the commercial development of Maison Cartier. These were the major principles underlying the launch of the Fondation Cartier on October 20, 1984, in Jouy-en-Josas. We have perpetuated this same philosophy on Boulevard Raspail and will continue to do so on the Place du Palais-Royal, across from the Louvre".
Alain Dominique Perrin, Founding President of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
"Moving into such an impressive site, in terms of location and history, entails a form of invention. And what is invented is not automatically seen in the steel or stone. The space is marked by a different way of doing: a way of conceiving how artists can have maximum power of expression. A site such as this one calls for boldness, courage that artists might not necessarily demonstrate in other institutional spaces. The Fondation Cartier will likely be the institution offering the greatest differentiation of its spaces, the most diverse exhibition forms and viewpoints. Here, it is possible to do what cannot be done elsewhere, by shifting the system of the act of showing".
Jean Nouvel
Chris Dercon, Managing Director, Jean Nouvel, Architect, Alain Dominique Perrin, President and Founder on the building site of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain’s future premises, place du Palais-Royal, Paris. Photo ©Thibaut Voisin
Celebrating four decades dedicated to contemporary art
On October 20, 1984, Alain Dominique Perrin, then President of Cartier International, established the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, France’s first corporate foundation dedicated to contemporary art. Originally located on the Montcel estate in Jouy-en- Josas, the Fondation Cartier placed artists at the heart of its activities, creating a unique approach that embraced various fields of contemporary creation and curiosity in all its forms. Through a program of exhibitions and residencies, it provided a wholly novel space for free exploration and encounters for internationally renowned artists alongside emerging talents from diverse cultural and geographic backgrounds.
In 1994, the Fondation Cartier moved to its new site in Paris, a glass and steel building designed by Jean Nouvel as his “Parisian Monument”. The Boulevard Raspail building embodied a bold approach: in this open, transparent museum space, walls were absent and were replaced instead with a possibility for perpetually reinventing the exhibition premises and its relationship to the exterior. This radical design has frequently inspired artists, who have responded powerfully to the spirit of the place.
At the end of 2025, the Fondation Cartier will leave Boulevard Raspail and start the third chapter of its history with the opening of new spaces on Place du Palais-Royal in Paris.
Building site view of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain’s future premises, place du Palais-Royal, Paris. Level view of the -1.May 2023. Photo © Martin Argyroglo
Building site view of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain’s future premises, place du Palais-Royal, Paris. View of platform 1 in construction. December 2023. Photo © Martin Argyroglo
Building site view of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain’s future premises, place du Palais-Royal, Paris. View of the -1 from the ground floor. July 2024. Photo © Martin Argyroglo
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Press release and images courtesy of Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
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