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Origin and history

Le Jeu de Paume is a building built in 1862 by architect Melchior Viraut at the northwest corner of the Tuileries Garden in Paris. Originally, it housed a palm playroom, which had been transferred from the Sandrié Pass (9th arrondissement) after the latter had been destroyed for the construction of Opera Garnier. Napoleon III authorized his installation in the gardens, taking up decorative elements from the orangery of the Tuileries, the future museum of the Orangery. The hall was inaugurated on January 29, 1862.

As early as 1909, the building was converted into a space for artistic exhibitions, linked to the Louvre and the Musée de l'Orangerie. He hosted exhibitions such as Hundred Portraits of Women from the 18th-century English and French Schools (1909) or retrospectives dedicated to Carpeaux (1912). In 1922, it became an independent museum of contemporary foreign schools, before specializing in modern art until 1947, when it was transferred to the Palais de Tokyo.

During the Second World War, the Jeu de Paume was requisitioned by the Nazis to store and sort stoned works of art, especially to Jewish artists. Hermann Göring went there several times to select pieces, while the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg performed there until the Liberation. Rose Valland, a conservation attaché, made a crucial underground inventory for the post-war restoration of stolen works.

From 1947 to 1986, the site presented the Impressionist collections before the opening of the Musée d'Orsay. Redesigned in 1991 by Antoine Stinco, he became the national gallery of the Jeu de Paume, dedicated to modern and contemporary art in all its forms (photography, cinema, installations). In 2004, it evolved into an art centre focused on the 19th, 20th and 21st century image, resulting from the merger with the National Centre for Photography and Photographic Heritage.

Since 2010, Le Jeu de Paume has collaborated with the city of Tours for heritage exhibitions at the Château de Tours, highlighting donations and public archives. In 2024, he will transform his auditorium into an art and essay cinema, unique in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, with 400 annual screenings planned.

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