From Paris to Paraná: Centre Pompidou Announces $240M Brazilian Branch Plan
The Centre Pompidou is preparing for a full closure this September, ahead of an ambitious five-year renovation set to conclude in 2030, but the iconic French institution just announced a bold new investment: the opening of a major outpost in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, another UNESCO World Heritage site. Located in the heart of the Triple Frontier, where Brazil meets Argentina and Paraguay, the new center will spotlight South American art and the region’s cultural and creative dynamism, drawing from the Pompidou’s collection as well as new commissions.
Solano Benítez, the Paraguayan architect awarded the Golden Lion at the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale, will design the outpost. Emphasizing sustainability and regional integration, the new construction will use raw, locally sourced materials to harmonize with its lush forest surroundings. Like its Parisian counterpart, the Centre Pompidou x Paraná will serve as a cultural hub, combining exhibition and performance spaces with research labs and a public plaza designed to integrate the museum into civic life and establish it as a platform for live programming, film screenings and festivals.
The announcement follows the signing of a five-year memorandum of understanding with the State of Paraná, Brazil, concluding an advisory process that began in 2022. With a projected cost of $240 million, the initiative is the latest in a wave of international expansions for the Pompidou that include the Centre Pompidou x Hanwha-Seoul—slated to open in May 2026 in the city’s financial district—and the embattled Centre Pompidou × Jersey City, now delayed to 2030 after significant controversy and setbacks following the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s (NJEDA) withdrawal of financial support last June. The institution also recently secured a €50 million gift from Saudi Arabia to help fund its €262 million renovation, further tightening ties ahead of its planned x AlUla branch—a project now conspicuously missing from the museum’s website despite its public announcement in March 2023. The Centre Pompidou has already opened an outpost in Malaga and launched long-term collaborations with the West Bund Museum Project in Shanghai and the KANAL foundation in Brussels.
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The announcement of the new Centre Pompidou x Paraná coincides with the Brazil-France 2025 Season (Saison France-Brésil 2025), a sweeping cultural exchange taking place across Paris and other French cities from April to September. Brazilian art is commanding the Parisian scene this spring and summer, with standout exhibitions including a Lucas Arruda monograph at the Musée d’Orsay (through July 20), a major survey of avant-garde pioneer Lygia Pape at the Bourse de Commerce (Sept 10, 2025 – January 26, 2026) and the group show “Horizontes: Contemporary Art du Brazil” at the Grand Palais (June 6 – July 25, 2025). Meanwhile, Laura Lima’s monumental installation—fusing contemporary art, ecology and architecture—will take over the Panthéon from June 7 through the end of summer, and the Musée du Quai Branly will debut “Amazonia” in September, an exhibition dedicated to indigenous cosmologies and cultural knowledge.
While Brazil’s art scene remains relatively insular—largely due to a punitive tax structure that isolates it from global circulation—fairs like SP-Arte in São Paulo have shown resilience and growing momentum across market tiers. The last Venice Biennale, curated by Brazilian curator and MASP director Adriano Pedrosa, helped spotlight the country’s diverse creative production, in step with the art world’s broader shift toward alternative narratives from the Global South and indigenous communities. Just last month, the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) unveiled its long-awaited expansion, doubling its exhibition space to over 21,000 square meters with a striking new tower alongside Lina Bo Bardi’s iconic brutalist original. The Centre Pompidou’s move into Brazil marks the first direct investment by a major international institution in South America, potentially signaling that institutions are beginning to shift focus toward emerging cultural markets in the region.
