Cartier Foundation opens high-tech museum

After a sweeping renovation that cost $233 million, the Cartier Foundation has reopened as a high-tech art hub in one of Paris’s most prestigious locations — directly across from the Louvre.
The revamped institution is not just another museum but a bold redefinition of what a contemporary cultural space can be in the 21st century.
The transformation is vast.
The new building is five times larger than the foundation’s previous home and was redesigned by Jean Nouvel, France’s celebrated architect. Rather than preserve the old structure, originally inaugurated in 1855, Nouvel stripped it to its core. The result is a flexible, dynamic museum that the foundation describes as a '21st-century museum', fusing cutting-edge technology with architectural daring.
The foundation has begun unveiling the space to a select group of critics, artists and patrons, but public visitors will soon experience it as doors open widely on Saturday.
A centrepiece of the new design is a system of five movable platforms, each measuring 1,250 square metres. Inspired by the engineering of mobile bridges and aircraft carriers, the platforms can be raised or lowered to create free heights of up to 11 metres. This allows curators to stage monumental installations, oversized sculptures, or immersive environments that traditional museums could not accommodate.
With its adaptable structure, the museum promises an ever-changing visitor experience.
Inside, architectural innovation continues. Walkways cut across the building like elevated balconies, giving viewers multiple perspectives of both artworks and space. Modular ceilings allow curators to manipulate lighting and volume, ensuring exhibitions are finely tuned to the artist’s intent and audience engagement. The museum becomes less a fixed structure than a responsive, living organism.
The Cartier Foundation has long been central to France’s cultural landscape. Founded in 1984 by Cartier president Dominique Perrin, it was the nation’s first private art foundation, championing contemporary creativity. Its previous home, another Nouvel creation in glass and steel, became a landmark of modern exhibition culture. Over nearly four decades, it staged more than 300 shows, including works by Damien Hirst, Ron Mueck and filmmaker David Lynch.
The reopening signals more than a return — it sets a new standard. The inaugural exhibition draws from the foundation’s history while looking ahead, presenting around 600 works by roughly 100 international artists. Together, they form a sweeping retrospective of over forty years of contemporary art.
In reaffirming its mission to foster creativity, embrace experimentation and bridge past and future, the Cartier Foundation strengthens Paris’s place as a cultural capital. The reborn institution is both a tribute to the city’s artistic heritage and a daring step towards the museums of tomorrow. — dpa