In 2021, three restored historical buildings were opened in the center of Paris at the same time: the Palace of the Naval Ministry, the Samaritaine department store and the Bourse de Commerce. The round building of the stock exchange was empty for a long time, but now you can see contemporary art from the collection of Francois Pinault. At this link you can buy a ticket to the museum in advance.
How to get into the Pinault Collection Museum?
Address
2 Rue de Viarmes, Paris, France
Working hours
Open Monday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Late opening Fridays until 9 p.m.
Late opening and free access on the first Saturday of the month from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Closed Tuesdays.
Tickets
On site it’s €14, but better book your visit in advance.
You can get a ticket with a time and date of visit here.
Or just choose the date in a calendar:
The Pinot Collection Museum is located in the first district of Paris, five minutes from the Louvre and Les Halles shopping center, 10 minutes from the Georges Pompidou Center of Contemporary Art. The building simultaneously hosts several thematic exhibitions. On the top floor there is a restaurant with a beautiful view of Paris.
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Free nocturnes
The museum management decided to give the general public an opportunity to get acquainted with the new museum and announced free evening visits on the first Saturday of the month. Which means that on the first Saturday of each month, you can visit the Pinot Collection for free from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Everyone can embrace this offer, so be ready to stand in a long line to get in.
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What is the Bourse de Commerce famous for?
The massive rotunda of the Bourse de Commerce appeared in the center of Paris in the 60s of the 18th century. Before it one of the palaces of Maria Medici was on this site, and now they began to sell grain. The bourse was a part of the shopping district of Les Halles.
A hundred years later, on the site where Nelson Mandela Park and Les Halles shopping center are now located, a huge covered market was built. The Bourse de Commerce fit into it perfectly, although the building was already worn out. For the World Exhibition of 1889, it was restored, equipped with a dome, and the interior was ennobled with frescoes and art nouveau decor.
After another 60 years in the middle of the 20th century, the final decision was made to eliminate the Les Halles market, known as the «womb of Paris». The author with the nickname Emile Zola colorfully describes all the problems of this place in his novel. The market moved outside the city, its roof was dismantled, but the Bourse de Commerce remained. Unless Francois Pinault, a dull building in the center of Paris would have remained.
The famous collector has always dreamed of opening a modern art museum in Paris. And he got this building for rent in exchange for its restoration. Architect Tadao Ando retained as much Art Nouveau decor as possible, but made the dome transparent to allow more light into the exhibition halls. You can visit the Bourse de Commerce not even for the sake of modern art, but beautiful architecture of this place.
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What to check in the Pinault Collection?
The story of François Pinault is a story about becoming a successful collector of contemporary art. In the 1960s, Monsieur Pinault, a passionate art lover, assumed that the best works of artists of the early 20th century had already dispersed and settled in museum collections. But time goes by and new modern works appear, and young talents are being discovered. You need to collect their work before they get expensive.
Now the Pinault collection consists of 10 thousand works created after 1960. Today, their authors have already earned worldwide recognition. Among them are Piet Mondrian, Mark Rothko, Richard Serra, Damien Hirst and many others.
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The Pinault collection owns two museums in Venice and one museum in Paris. The expositions in these museums are not permanent and, according to the idea of Francois Pinault, the works will constantly circulate so that as many people as possible can see them.
Enjoy your visit!
Jesse Gardner / unsplash.com 
Jean-Pierre Dalbéra / flickr.com / CC BY 2.0
Gideon / flickr.com / CC BY 2.0
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