French industrialist and head of Christie's François Pinault has reportedly asked François Barré, a former official of the Culture Ministry to take care of his future museum of Contemporary Art in Boulogne, just off Paris. The museum will be set on the Seguin island, in place of the huge premises of the former Renault car factory.
François Barré, a former president of the Pompidou Museum, was recently head of the department of architecture and French Patrimony at the Culture Ministry.
He will probably have the task of organising the collection of the new Boulogne museum.
François Pinault has remained discreet regarding his reported choice as he does not want to destabilise the market in announcing what would be the works chosen to enter his museum. Some of the artists he has been in touch with have refused to reveal what works they had sold him and whether they would be destined to the museum.
It is probable that François Pinault will keep many works in his own collection while financial and fiscal implications are still be fully determined before he will take a final decision about the works that will go to the Seguin island.
The French tycoon has gathered some 1,500 works so far and is a regular buyer in galleries and at auction, especially of Contemporary paintings and installations.
Recently he bought at Phillips a show-case filled with cigarette butts conceived by British artist Damien Hirst titled “In Love-out of love” for $ 750,000. He then acquired a historical Dan Flavin work titled “Alternate Diagonals of March 2,1964” for a record $ 335,750 at Sotheby's.
Still, he has also sold some of the pieces of his collection at Christie's on November 15th, notably a 1965 painting by Gerhard Richter titled “Kongress” for $ 4,9 million and a De Kooning work on paper for $ 4,5 million.
Pinault nurtured a passion for art some thirty years ago while his wife's tastes go for 18th Century works. He notably acquired modern and Impressionist paintings before turning his attention to Contemporary Art. Now, many specialists think he has a keen eye.
He has been roaming U.S, French and British galleries constantly and has acquired many expensive pieces during the past decade. In 1990 he bought at Christie's a 1925 Mondrian painting for over $ 6 million, a sum that is twice the annual purchasing budget of the Beaubourg museum.
Pinault is also known to admire many American painters such as De Kooning of whom he bought a 1956 masterpiece titled “January 1st”. He also acquired for about $ 1,8 million Jeff Koons' celebrated “Split Rocker”, a 12-metre high hybrid creature formed by a horse and a prehistoric animal covered with flowers that was the star of the exhibition titled “Beauty”, held recently in Avignon, southern France.
In 1995 he bought Robert Rauschenberg's “Rebus” painted in 1955 for a sum of around $ 5,8 million and which he loaned to the Museum of Modern Art in Paris for an exhibition held in 1995.
He also acquired Degas' famous bronze and textile sculpture titled “14-year-old Dancer” for $ 12,3 million in November 1999 at Sotheby's. This sculpture and the Jeff Koons work might well be destined to the Seguin island museum though François Pinault intends to keep many pieces in his own collection. One thing is however for sure, Eduardo Chillida's monumental sculpture titled “Consejo al espacio al tiempo” will definitely go to this museum.
Home
