Fonds national d'art contemporain

The Fonds national d'art contemporain occupies a sleek, unassuming building tucked within the concrete maze of La Defense. This institution holds the French state's collection of contemporary art, housing tens of thousands of works by living artists. In nineteen seventy-seven, the state moved its massive inventory here to ensure these pieces were cataloged and preserved properly. Curators occasionally pull a painting from the racks to lend to museums, but most of the collection stays behind these heavy, climate-controlled walls indefinitely.