At the Grand Palais, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely and Pontus Hulten are desired

The exhibition, which was to welcome the public this Friday, June 20, was postponed to June 26, the end of the Parisian building site having been late. As for the Palais de la Découverte, also partially open, its future is always uncertain.

IIt will still be necessary to wait a few days to immerse yourself in the maze of the fruitful artistic collaboration between Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely and Pontus Hulten. Initially scheduled for June 20, the opening of the retrospective in the Grand Palais galleries had to be postponed to June 26. “Time to finish maintenance of exhibition galleries”, explains a press release from the Center Pompidou, which co -produced the event and whose curator, Sophie Duplaix, assures the police station. On the side of the Grand Palais, there is a delay due to “Small finishes of scenography and installation of the exhibition, because the mounting timing was quite tight”.

In construction since March 2021, the Grand Palais was to open its doors a week ago. But it was not until yesterday, Thursday, June 19, that the presentation of the renovated building was held. In a site atmosphere that felt plaster and dust, and where workers were still activated in the midst of journalists who came to discover the results of the deep facelift.

Since June 6, visitors have already had access, under the nave, to the programming events of the Grand Palais d’été: the suspended sound forest of the Brazilian plastic artist Ernesto Neto, the very intimate labyrinth of the “Grand Palais of my mother”, Designed by the artist and playwright Mohamed El Khatib or the inflatable and very instagrammable balloons of the great immersive barnum “Euphoria” … on the side of the galleries, the exhibitions “Art Brut” and “Royal Tapestries” have been visible since Friday, June 20.

The Palais de la Découverte, whose future is still pending, has partially reopened on June 20, with the exhibition “Transparency”. The public also has access to the Children’s Palace as well as the majestic rotunda of Antin. For other galleries, “It will not be before 2026”, according to The Grand Palais Communication Service.

A pharaonic project not completed, therefore. And which we can also get an idea by viewing the documentary The metamorphoses of the Grand Palais (2024), rebroadcast on June 29 at 10:20 pm, on France 5. Director Stefan Cornic was able to slide his camera for two years behind the scenes in the middle of architects and workers responsible for offering youth to this emblematic Parisian building, a hundred and twenty years old.