Philanthropy rules: how the private sector is supporting France's national culture

"Visitors to the Rue de Rivoli this autumn have a scintillating newcomer to add to their dance cards. The Fondation Cartier's new home, at 2 place du Palais-Royal, is within walking distance of the Bourse de Commerce, the Musée d'Orsay, the Musée de l'Orangerie and the Centre Pompidou, as well as the Grand Palais and Petit Palais. The Musée du Louvre is right across the road, and the ministry of culture surrounds it on every other side."

"Some estimates put the cost of Jean Nouvel's dynamic revamp of the former Louvre des Antiquaires as high as €250m. Press materials for the foundation describe it as "a gripping place of encounter between the past and the present". The foundation's president, Alain Dominique Perrin, is banking on actual encounters, his stated aim being to attract a tenth of the Louvre's annual attendance of nine million. "Around a million people will be fine," he told The Art Newspaper last October."

"Chaos has engulfed the French body politic since the summer, as successive governments have attempted, and failed, to pass a budget for 2026 that adequately reckons with the country's perilous debt reaching 114% of GDP, at €3.4 trillion. Within that budgetary context, the cost of private investment in the arts cannot be ignored. Private art foundations have been repeatedly criticised for contributing to fiscal deduction-that is, to a loss to the public purse."

Fondation Cartier has opened a new Paris home at 2 place du Palais-Royal, near major museums and the Musée du Louvre. Jean Nouvel's revamp of the former Louvre des Antiquaires cost up to €250m. The building is "a gripping place of encounter between the past and the present". The foundation aims to attract about one million visitors, a tenth of the Louvre's annual attendance. Private art prosperity contrasts with public-sector uncertainty amid a failed 2026 budget process and national debt around 114% of GDP (€3.4tn). Private art foundations face criticism for causing fiscal deduction and reducing public revenue.

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