Louvre welcomes its first female president-director
Portrait of Laurence des Cars, the next president-director of the Louvre. Photograph copyright Franck Ferville, courtesy of the Musee d’Orsay.
PARIS – Laurence des Cars has been appointed the next president-director of the Louvre, with her term to begin on September 1. Des Cars, 54, will be the first woman to lead the prestigious French museum in its centuries-long history. She is currently the director of the Musee de l’Orangerie and also the Musee d’Orsay.
In an official statement released by the Louvre in English, des Cars said:
“I am deeply honored by the trust placed in me by the President of the French Republic and the Minister of Culture in appointing me as head of this tremendous museum in which we take such pride.
I take up my new responsibilities on September 1 and will be working alongside Jean-Luc Martinez [the Louvre’s current president-director] as well as meeting the teams at the Louvre to ensure the smoothest possible transition.
The recent crisis has had a particularly destabilizing impact, and has forced us to consider economic balances and to rethink – despite the constraints – the museum visit in terms of an exceptional experience.
My “Louvre 2030” plan questions the vocation of a universal museum. My ambition is to place the Louvre at the core of topical debates, and for it to foster reflection on all issues within society. Through its longue duree approach, the Louvre gives relevance to the present, it is wholeheartedly contemporary and can therefore speak volumes to today’s youth.
I want to see the great scholars who make the Louvre what it is share their knowledge with absolute openness. I also want to give modern-day creators the opportunity to express themselves.
I envision completing the arrangement of the major collections with the creation of a ninth department devoted to Byzantium and Eastern Christianity. The dispersion of the works within the Louvre prevents them from being admired as the magnificent whole they form.
I look forward to welcoming back visitors, and among them our compatriots, many of whom take pleasure in exploring the Louvre.”
Visit the website of the Louvre.
