The Centre Pompidou: A Bold Icon at the Heart of Paris
It's hard to imagine Paris—especially the Marais—without the bold, industrial giant sitting at its centre. With its primary colours, swollen ventilation tubes, exposed pipes, and steel skeleton, the Centre Pompidou looks like it was built inside-out, and that was precisely the idea. In the early 1970s, architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers won the competition to design a radical building where the guts of the structure—plumbing, elevators, and ducts—would spill out onto the facade, leaving a vast, flexible, and minimalist interior.
When it opened in 1977, the Centre Pompidou was as revolutionary in concept as it was in appearance. France had just launched a multidisciplinary cultural space like no other: part modern art museum (the largest in Europe), part library, performance venue, and art-house cinema. In the 2000s, it expanded again with the addition of Georges, a panoramic rooftop restaurant with sweeping views of Paris.
The Beating Heart of European Modern Art
Despite all its parts, the museum remains the heart of the Centre. Nicknamed "Beaubourg," it houses the most extensive modern art collection in Europe—and one of the largest in the world. Only New York's MoMA rivals it in scope. But with around 50,000 works in its holdings, only a small selection (around 1,300 pieces) is on view at any given time.
To keep things fresh, the museum rotates its permanent exhibits annually, hosts large-scale temporary exhibitions, and maintains an outpost, Pompidou-Metz, to further share its collection.
The permanent collection traces the story of 20th-century art in two major phases:
- Before 1960: Fauvism, Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism dominate, with major works by Matisse, Braque, Picasso, Duchamp, Magritte, Pollock, and Rothko.
- After 1960: The art world explodes with Arte Povera, Pop Art, Minimalism, and Nouveau Réalisme. This chaotic brilliance leads to conceptualism, punk aesthetics, BritArt, and the often mind-bending twists of contemporary art. One gallery is entirely devoted to emerging contemporary artists, showcasing installations and video art by creators such as Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and Mathieu Mercier.
The museum also boasts vast halls for major exhibitions, which have featured giants like Dada, O'Keeffe, Giacometti, Bacon, Kandinsky, and explorations of Futurism and Women in Abstraction. The Espace 315 gives a spotlight to artists under 40.
Much More Than a Museum
But the experience doesn't end when you leave the gallery. The Children's Gallery, the Flammarion bookstore, the cinema, the public library, and the Georges rooftop restaurant make the Centre Pompidou more than a museum—it's a vibrant, living hub of culture. Some have even dubbed it "the most beautiful pile of scrap metal in the art world."
Major Renovation: Five-Year Closure Starting in 2026
After years of speculation, it's now official: the Centre Pompidou will close for five years starting in April 2026 for a massive renovation project. The building requires a comprehensive overhaul, including asbestos removal, energy efficiency upgrades, glass restoration, and compliance with modern fire and accessibility standards. The estimated cost? €262 million, fully funded by the French Ministry of Culture.
This review was fact-checked and updated in 2025.