The game of musical chairs continues on rue de Valois.
The Ministry of Culture appointed Xavier Rey to head the National Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday.
His candidacy had been brought by Laurent Le Bon, new president of the Center Pompidou, at the end of a public candidacy procedure set up with the constitution of a jury, specifies the ministry.
Xavier Rey succeeds the current director of the institution, Bernard Blistène, and will take office on October 1, 2021.
Read also: Laurent le Bon leaves the Picasso museum to take the helm of the Center Pompidou
Former student of the École normale supérieure, a graduate of HEC and curator from the National Heritage Institute, Xavier Rey, who will celebrate his 40th birthday next year, has been at the head of the Marseille museums since 2017. A specialist in Impressionism, he had previously been advisor and then director of the collections of the Musée d'Orsay.
In a statement made public Tuesday, the ministry also recalls that Xavier Rey was co-curator of several exhibitions, including
The portraits of Cézanne
in 2017, and that he had programmed, in Marseille,
Picasso, Voyages imaginaires,
Chefs-d ' work from the Burrell
and
Man Ray
Collection and Fashion
.
Read also: "Art brut" joins the collections of the Center Pompidou
"Xavier Rey will be responsible for writing the scientific and cultural project of the museum which should guide the major works to come,"
explains the Ministry of Culture.
For this, he will lead from the moment he takes office, in collegiality with the teams of the museum and other departments, experimental and innovative projects in terms of museography, cultural offer and partnerships, drawing on the DNA of innovation and multidisciplinarity of the Center Pompidou. ”