Art curator Sylvain Amic has been named the new president of the Musée d’Orsay and Musée de l’Orangerie museums in Paris.
The 56-year-old Amic will succeed art historian Christophe Leribault, who was asked to lead the Chateau de Versailles. Leribault has already started his new job as president of the former royal residence nearly 12 miles west of Paris.
Pierre-Emmanuel Lecerf was the interim president of the Musée d’Orsay and Musée de l’Orangerie after Leribault’s appointment to Versailles in February. Amic will start his new position on April 24.
In a press statement, French culture minister Rachida Dati said Amic distinguished himself from the other candidates “by the excellence of his project, his attention to the territories, his remarkable successes when he was at the head of the museums of Rouen, and a spirit of innovation that everyone recognizes. I am pleased, along with the President of the Republic, to entrust him with the reins of one of the most important cultural institutions in our country.”
Amic was most recently a museum and arts consultant for France’s ministry of culture, with a focus on increasing access to the arts through traveling exhibitions across the country. The Dakar-born modern and contemporary art specialist was a teacher before switching to a career in art curation in 1997.
Amic’s experience at museums includes Montpellier, the direction of three museums in the city of Rouen, as well as the curation of exhibitions in France and abroad, including the Normandy Impressionist Festival.
President Emmanuel Macron reportedly met with Amic last week and “preferred him to a dozen other names”, according to the French daily newspaper Le Figaro.
The French Ministry of Culture said that last year, the Musée d’Orsay and Musée de l’Orangerie broke their historic attendance record by welcoming 5.1 million visitors.
