View of the exhibition of Bruno Decharme's art brut collection at the Grand Palais in Paris, June 2025. DIDIER PLOWY FOR LE GRANDPALAISRMN/2025
Tensions have flared between the Centre Pompidou, which has closed for renovation work scheduled to run until 2030, and the Grand Palais, where it had found a temporary home. Le Monde has learned that the Paris museum had to give up Gallery 8, the smaller of the two spaces allocated to it, which covers 800 square meters and was slated to host an exhibition on the bicentennial of photography this autumn, an event that has now been canceled. It was in this space that, at the end of 2025, the exhibition of filmmaker Bruno Decharme's art brut collection was held, but the show drew fewer visitors than expected.
The lackluster performance reignited longstanding tensions between the two public institutions. The Grand Palais is also grappling with a severe financial deficit: On top of a shortfall of around €10 million in 2025, there has been a 7% budget overrun on renovation work, bringing total losses to €25 million. The losses are particularly worrying, given that the institution took on €150 million in debt to fund its own costly renovations and must repay €9 million in loans every year.
