The President of the Republic, on the proposal of the Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, appoints Laurence des Cars as president of the Louvre Museum.
President of the public establishment of the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée de l'Orangerie, Laurence des Cars was previously director of the Musée de l'Orangerie, and scientific director of the Agence France Museum in charge of the Louvre Abu Dhabi project. Since 2017, she has profoundly renewed and energized the Musée d'Orsay through a program of exhibitions, live performances and a new approach to works, open to all audiences and artists today.
At the head of the Louvre, Mme des Cars' mission will be to reaffirm the universal vocation of the world’s first museum. In this perspective, it will make dialogue between ancient art and the contemporary world one of its priorities, with the constant concern for the transmission to the greatest number. It will place youth, particularly affected by the crisis, at the centre of settlement policy. It will also be keen to establish new forms of cooperation in the service of ambitious cultural programming, making a large part of international partnerships.
Laurence des Cars will take up her new duties on September 1, to accompany until that date the reopening of the Musée d'Orsay.
The President of the Republic and the Minister of Culture salute the work done by Jean-Luc Martinez at the head of the Louvre for more than eight years. During his two terms, Mr. Martinez brought the number of visitors to the establishment to more than ten million a year and enabled him to reach new audiences, through a proactive mediation policy and the improvement of reception conditions within the museum. It has also strengthened the international influence of the Louvre, in particular the remarkable success of the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
In view of his great expertise in this field and the legitimacy that this brings him internationally, Jean-Luc Martinez will be appointed, on the decision of the President of the Republic, Ambassador, in charge of international cooperation in the field of heritage from 1 September 2021.
Jean-Luc Martinez will continue as President of the Louvre until August 31, 2021, to accompany the reopening of the museum and complete the preparation of the exhibition “Paris-Athens, Birth of Modern Greece, 1675-1919”, of which he is Commissioner General.