The Centre Pompidou in Paris, France, is closing on September 22, 2025. It housed Muse’e National d’Art Moderne, Europe’s largest modernistic art collection, but will be shut down for five years while the Centre undergoes building restoration work for asbestos abatement, accessibility upgrades, and energy improvements. The Pompidou is known for its innovative glass and steel “pipes,” (including escalators,) and industrial look. While people loved its design or didn’t love it, the views from the upper floors are outstanding. For instance, the rooftop outdoor-seating cafe views of Paris are sublime in the light of dusk.
When the Centre opens again in 2030, hopefully the half-a-dozen floors will be full of new and interesting modern art — multi-media, painting, photography, applied arts like architecture, landscape architecture, design and decorative arts — and new ideas that could spark another movement such as the Impressionists, a French (and worldwide) watershed. Until then, bon voyage!