SETTING THE STAGE

AT THE NEW FONDATION CARTIER, ARCHITECT JEAN NOUVEL TRANSFORMS A FORMER PARIS DEPARTMENT STORE INTO A FLEXIBLE SHOWCASE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART

- TEXT BY DANA THOMAS

OPENING TO THE PUBLIC on October 25, the new Fondation Cartier Pour L’Art Contemporain in Paris, like its predecessor, has been designed by Jean Nouvel, the architect of such modern landmarks as the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris and the National Museum of Qatar in Doha. When the French Pritzker Prize winner, now 80, first met with foundation president Alain Dominique Perrin to discuss the project, he recalls, “I knew what Monsieur Perrin wanted: a monument for Paris.”