Visitors stand behind a security cordon in the Salle des Etats as they take pictures of the painting Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci at the Louvre Museum in Paris, on Jan. 29.Benoit Tessier/Reuters
If you were lucky enough to have seen the Mona Lisa during the two centuries or so that it hung in the Louvre before the advent of smartphones, spare a thought for today’s art lover or history buff. They now have to endure endless lines and restless crowds to catch a glimpse of the famous Leonardo da Vinci tableau amid a sea of selfie-taking tourists seemingly more interested in generating Instagram content than in contemplating a timeless masterpiece.
To be sure, dealing with the minor inconveniences that come with a visit to one of the world’s most Instagrammed museums seems like a nice problem to have in a world where war, deprivation and tyranny serve to remind us that life is not a trip to the Louvre for most of humankind. But it is because great art connects people in ways that transcend time, space and politics that great museums should at least ensure that visitors are able to properly appreciate it.
That has become increasingly difficult at the Louvre, the world’s most popular museum, which saw more than 8.7 million visitors in 2024 alone. That was fewer than the 10.2 million who visited the museum in 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic, or even the 8.9 million who did so in 2023, as limited accessibility to central Paris during last summer’s Olympics reduced somewhat the museum’s ticket sales. Still, even at 2024’s level, the Louvre welcomed twice as many visitors as it was configured to accommodate after a late-1980s makeover that included the signature I.M. Pei-designed pyramid in its centre court.
Just as the glass-and-steel pyramid became indissociable from François Mitterand, the phlegmatic Socialist president who commissioned it, Emmanuel Macron appears to be hoping that the massive Louvre renovation project that he launched this week will burnish his political legacy as his second presidential term comes to an end in 2027. Like the Olympics that wowed the world and the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris after the 2019 fire that ravaged the centuries-old cathedral, Mr. Macron sees the Louvre overhaul as a way to project French soft power in an increasingly authoritarian-led world.
“A lot of people might say that it is totally untimely to come talk about a great cultural project when the world seems to be going in all directions, and, clearly, budgetary discussions are ongoing,” Mr. Macron said in unveiling the “Louvre New Renaissance” project under the watchful eye of La Joconde, as the Mona Lisa is known in French. “At a time when it seems that immediacy and hard talk have hypnotic power over so many commentators, to speak in the long-term, of culture and of art, is, I believe, also one of the messages that France has to deliver to the world.”
The renovation project, estimated to cost about €800-million (nearly $1.2-billion), will include the construction of a separate underground exposition space for the Mona Lisa, with a dedicated entrance and ticket price, essentially creating a museum-within-a-museum for the 520-year-old painting that King François I purchased from da Vinci in 1518. While the idea of separating the painting from the rest of the Louvre’s collection has its critics, and will contribute to the Disneyfication of the museum experience, it remains the best solution.
The New Renaissance project will also see the Louvre get a new main entrance to handle the flow of a projected 12 million annual visitors. The project will also address a host of problems that were flagged in a report by the museum’s president that was leaked last week to a Paris newspaper, including leaks in the roof, temperature swings that threatened artworks, and a lack of restrooms. The project will be almost entirely financed by private donations, licencing fees paid by the Louvre Abu Dhabi, and higher ticket prices for visitors from outside the European Union. The €700-million Notre Dame restoration was paid for with private money, including €200-million each from the Arnault family of the LVMH luxury goods empire and the Bettencourt clan behind the L’Oréal cosmetics colossus.
For Mr. Macron, whose approval rating hit a low of 21 per cent in a poll released on Sunday, the Louvre New Renaissance project is unlikely to lead to his own political renaissance anytime soon. France’s National Assembly remains gridlocked as the country’s budget deficit spirals out of control. While France still draws more international tourists than any other country – 100 million in 2024 – its hollowed-out industrial cities and poverty-stricken banlieues have fuelled endless social unrest on Mr. Macron’s watch.
He is term-limited and cannot run in 2027. But nothing prevents him from trying again in 2032. He will be just 54 then. And with the completion of the Louvre New Renaissance in 2031, the timing might be just right for a political comeback.