Petit Palais Director Annick Lemoine: Working For a Living Museum

How would you sum up these two years at the helm of the Petit Palais? Since 2018, I had overseen the Musée Cognacq-Jay : it was a very interesting period, with numerous projects underway, including doubling the exhibition space. And then came this extraordinary opportunity for me, as a specialist in 17th and 18th century European painting, to join the Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris. It's a very stimulating job that requires a great deal of energy, and I'm lucky that I can rely on an amazing team. I knew the place well, especially since the exhibition “The Baroque Underworld – Vice and Poverty in Rome ", which I co-curated here after presenting it at the Villa Medici. Museum attendance has picked up again over the last two years, and we're very proud of our positioning, the 8.7% rise in attendance and, of course, the success of the Sarah Bernhardt exhibition. It all augurs very well for the future. Your predecessor Christophe Leribault made his mark, particularly with an ambitious exhibition policy. Do you plan to carry on in the same way? I inherited a very fine program, which I fully support…