Louvre Museum Gets Its First Woman President After Centuries Of Its Creation

Laurence des Cars makes history by becoming the first woman chief of the Louvre museum in Paris. The museum with historical significance was opened during the French revolution, two centuries ago.

Des Cars has been appointed by the French President Emmanuel Macron as its president-director of the Musée du Louvre. She will replace Jean-Luc Martinez, who had been the chief of the museum for eight years, on September 1.

Her appointment while makes for a win for the female race, there is an opposing view being presented at the class end. The earlier chief of the museum, Martinez, belonged to the working-class and he had become the director after several years of upper-class monopoly. Laurence des Cars, who comes from a privileged family of writers and journalists, seems to have reinstated the reign of upper-class art historians.

According to media reports, Laurence Des Cars is a qualified woman for the role of the art museum's chief. She is an expert in 19th-century painting and has had a long career as a curator. Before being appointed at the Louvre museum, she was working at the Agence France-Muséums from 2007-2014. The agency is a French government body that delivers Louvre Abu Dhabi.

After that, she worked as a director of Musée de l’Orangerie and moved on to Musée d’Orsay in 2017. Under her leadership, the Orsay an exhibition in 2019 in which Black female figures of 10th-century western paintings were represented.

As the President-director of the Louvre, Des Cars has pledged to extend the opening hours of the museum which currently closes at 5:30 pm.

French culture ministry in a statement said that the new chief of the musuem will work towards establishing a "dialogue between ancient art and the contemporary world” and widening the museum's audience base by attracting young people.

On the appointment of Laurence Des Cars, French President Macron's advisor said, "Martinez certainly has a good track record, but the President wanted to leave his personal mark on the most important appointment in the cultural sector.”

The advisor added that Des Cars' appointment doesn't only have to do with her gender but her political views also. Des Cars views the Louvre as a model for France's national discourse tied to contemporary topics.