Centre Pompidou

Reviews

• Patrick C.

  star star star star star 15 June 2026

  Great place! I like all the Jean Dubuffet there.
  
  Don't miss the Stravinsky Fountain right next door!

• Grace W.

  star star star star_border star_border 8 June 2026

  The museum in itself is pretty funky and fun.  I liked riding up the escalators to the top floor.  There you can get a nice view of the surrounding area.  I didn't really like how the museum was organized though.  It seemed not really well thought out.  Usually, museums are organized based off of period or style.  I felt like different artists were sporadically placed everywhere.  I couldn't get a cohesive grasp of what they were trying to show or teach.
  
  When we came, they had a special exhibit where a lady walked around the room and offered guests the "gift of music." If the person accepted, she would escort you into the museum and perform an operatic to that person.  It was really cool to watch.  I really enjoyed this out of box presentation that was unique and fun.
  
  The reason why I didn't think this museum was that great was because they don't allow any food in the lobby area of the museum.  Okay, I understand that there should be absolutely no food in the museum for obvious reasons but come on, the lobby area where you buy tickets was very spacious with no valuable or sacred works of art really around.  It was just this huge open space.  A snooty worker quickly told us that we needed to leave the area or go to the restaurant area if we wanted to feed our little kid.  Well, I think that is fine that we had to go to the restaurant area but I didn't appreciate the attitude.  Also, when you go to the restaurant, you feel obligated to buy something there.  It isn't like an open space with tables.  Most of the people there has ordered some food or beverages from the restaurant.  You can't really buy your own food and bring it.  My kid has a lot of allergies so I can't just buy from anywhere.  I just thought the museum seemed a little inflexible about offering visitors a place to rest or eat.

• TJ N.

  star star star star star_border 7 June 2026

  The place will wear you out, and is starting to show it's age, especially for a contemporary art center - I think it needs some refurbishment as parts here and there seemed 'of an era' gone by but trying to keep up. That's the architecture, still innovative in its way. As for the collection, oh holy heavens of art treasures, they have everyone, and many very interesting pieces, many I got to see for the very first time. An immense set of amazing Anselm Kiefer works, exciting pieces from Fluxus and Surrealism (Marcels: Duchamp! and Broodthaers), a nice Frank Stella and a soft sculpture that riffed on Picasso. I liked their pieces by Paul Klee and an interesting Jackson Pollock (seemed like a reductionist of his own work).
  
  The very downstairs was not interesting (film/photo area) - it seemed unmaintained, even a bit dirty honestly. I'm also annoyed, as most should be, by museums making patrons pay for traveling exhibitions instead of trying harder to get proper corporate and private funding to do so - for this reason we did not see either the Bacon nor the  Boltanski shows currently on view, which we would have liked to. Paris is way overpriced across the board as it is, this is just a hinderance after paying full fare to get in. Oh, and if you don't know, the Brancusi Atelier, which I believe is free to the public (small but worth the visit to see a quasi layout of a great artist's studio space/s), is via separate entrance (no connection between the main museum and it - even though there is a doorway - it's private (for employees?).....
  
  You can see a majority of this museum in a few solid hours.

• Gayle G.

  star star star star star_border 6 June 2026

  I really enjoyed the modern art here. There were
  Warhol's, Picasso, Matisse and some pretty
  wild modern art.

• Michael L.

  star star star star star_border 1 June 2026

  The Centre Pompidou is a unique experience in Paris.  The exterior of the building definitely stands out from the surrounding buildings and you can see it clearly from many of the monuments in Paris.  A very contemporary building housing contemporary art...perfect.  My son's french teacher highly recommended the museum and so glad we worked this into our schedule.  We enjoyed the exhibits we saw on the two floors...think it was five and four...really opens one's mind to possibilities and interpretation.  
  
  The only issue (and it was a minor issue) was that it was confusing in locating where to start and to move around the exhibits...we sorted it out.
  
  It was a very positive museum experience and happy to recommend Centre Pompidou when in Paris.