iMusée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris · Le Marais
New Paris, from 1977 to the Present Times
A free display in the 1977-to-today room on how Paris has changed since its first elected mayor, with recent acquisitions by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, JR and others.
More in Paris
In the middle of the room sits a zinc box wrapped in paper, and you are not allowed to know what is in it. It is JR's time capsule from La Caverne du Pont Neuf, his June 2026 installation on the bridge, and the objects he sealed inside stay secret until 2046.
The display fills the last room of the collections route, the one on Paris since 1977. That year Parisians elected their first mayor, and the RER's central section, Châtelet-Les Halles and the Centre Pompidou opened. Nearly 30 photographs, paintings, prints and lithographs follow what came next, including Yves Bélorgey's paintings of the housing estates on the city's edge. Christo and Jeanne-Claude's 1991 lithograph of the wrapped Pont-Neuf, their foundation's first gift to the museum, hangs beside extracts from the Maysles brothers' film Christo in Paris.
It is one room, so fold it into a visit to the free permanent collection rather than crossing Paris for it. Entry is free, Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 17:45.
Look for
JR's time capsule of La Caverne du Pont Neuf (2026)
Look for the zinc box at the centre of the room, sealed under a skin of paper, holding objects JR has kept secret until 2046.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Le Pont Neuf Empaqueté (1991)
An offset lithograph of the wrapped bridge with a collage of real woven polypropylene fabric, shown with extracts from the Maysles brothers' film of the 1985 wrapping.
Yves Bélorgey's housing estates
Paintings of the large housing complexes built in the peripheral neighbourhoods, the other side of the city's post-1977 makeover.
Good for
- An Hour Or Less
- Cheap Culture
Skip if
You want a full-scale exhibition: this is one room of about 30 works at the end of the collections.
Also at Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris
On now nearby
Nearby
Image credits
9
- New Paris, from 1977 to the Present TimesChristo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation / Photo: André Grossmann
- Kurt Schwitters. Le chaos-monde, 1918-1948Courtesy of Musée national Picasso-Paris
- Guillermo Kuitca, ChapelleCourtesy of Musée national Picasso-Paris
- Nanténé Traoré — pays des merveillesCourtesy of Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP)
- Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de ParisMiguel Hermoso Cuesta, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Musée Cognacq-JayCVB / Wikimedia Commons
- Musée national Picasso-ParisFrançois de Dijon, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP)Mbzt, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Lafayette Anticipations - Fondation Galeries LafayettePhilouSunshine, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0