Louvre Museum Appoints Its First Female President

The Louvre will be led by a female president for the first time in its 228-year-long history. On September 1, Laurence des Cars, an established figure in the art world, will take the helm of the Parisian institution.

Des Cars is currently the president of the Musée de l'Orangerie and the Musée d'Orsay, both in Paris. She will succeed Jean-Luc Martinez, whose campaign to stay on as Louvre president for a third term faltered. "Four years at the Orsay gave me this confidence, this crazy idea that I could be the next president of the Louvre,” des Cars told The New York Times. She listed extended hours (an attempt to attract younger visitors), cultural collaborations with artists and joint exhibitions with other museums as among her plans.

At the Orsay, des Cars oversaw Black Models: From Géricault to Matisse, a critically acclaimed exhibition on Black figures in French art. She also played a role in voluntarily returning a painting looted by the Nazis, a first for any French museum.

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