James Gaston

Philharmonie de Paris

Le Viaduc des Arts

Modern art at Centre Pompidou 10 Nov 2021 Modern art at Centre Pompidou 10 Nov 2021 Paris --

The Centre Pompidou displays its insides on the outside. The logo of the Centre Pompidou turned the building into a symbol by distilling the architecture's most radical feature, the Caterpillar escalator, into a pure graphic sign.

The building, which is not what one would call tall, is taller than its neighbours so it provides fine views of Paris. The Sacre Coeur, the towers of La Defense, and the Eiffel tower are visible in the distance, though you must look through glass with its dirt and reflections.

For most of the selected art works shown below, the text that accompanies the work is attached as a photo. The appearance of this text varies quite a bit, unfortunately.

Centre Pompidou

This is a photo of the Pompidou taken years ago, a favourite photo though it long reminded me that I needed to return to Paris to see the art, and to check out what this cool building looked like inside. So today I finally went for a visit and I was not disappointed.

Getting in was easy. We got our vaccine QR codes scanned, something that, along with donning KN95 masks, has become second nature, then we took the tubular glass-enclosed escalators up to the fifth floor to see the permanent exhibit of modern art. The fifth floor also has an outdoor sculpture garden and reflecting pool. Then we went down to the fourth floor for more art.