Passing of Marie-Claude BEAUD

The Board of Directors and the team of the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco have learned with deep sadness of the sudden passing of Marie-Claude Beaud (February 22, 1946 – December 29, 2024), director of the institution between 2009 and 2021. A “great lady of museums,” Marie-Claude Beaud was a pioneer, challenging conventions early on by bringing all artistic disciplines to the heart of the museum, fostering unprecedented dialogues and encounters. She was always passionate about broadening and diversifying the audience for the arts.

With this distinctive mark, and with the collaboration of artists and the teams she brought together, she left a lasting impact on the art spaces she shaped or passed through during her incredible career: first the museums of Grenoble and Toulon, the Fondation Cartier for Contemporary Art in Jouy-en-Josas and Paris, the American Center (Paris), the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Paris), the Mudam in Luxembourg, and finally the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco.

To her family, her loved ones, and all those – artists, creators, curators, art historians, collaborators – who had the privilege of crossing her path, we express our sincerest condolences.

MARIE-CLAUDE BEAUD
Biography
1965-1968: Advanced degree in history and art history from the University of Besançon.
1969-1976: Assistant Curator at the Musée de Grenoble, alongside Maurice Besset. Marie-Claude Beaud also teaches at the University of Grenoble. She becomes particularly involved in graphic design, design, and comics. She is sent on a three-month mission to the United States, where she discovers American art and begins to develop strong networks.
1976-1978: Director of the Musée de Grenoble, Marie-Claude Beaud develops an active educational department in schools and high schools with the help of artists and teachers. She works with Thierry Raspail, a member of her team and later Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lyon.
1978-1984: Curator at the Musée de Toulon, she opens the museum to contemporary artists working with all types of media, particularly fashion and music. She also makes the invisible visible by opening part of the reserves to the public. The Musée de Toulon becomes the first French museum to acquire works by Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter. With the help of teachers and artists, she establishes strong educational links with art schools and universities. In parallel, she teaches at the School of Art and Architecture in Marseille and the University of Aix-Marseille.
1984-1994: At the request of Alain-Dominique Perrin, Marie-Claude Beaud becomes the Founding Director of the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art in Jouy-en-Josas, where she establishes artist residencies, presents a cutting-edge live performance program, and organizes major thematic exhibitions such as “Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground” in 1990 (the band reformed for the occasion). From the late 1980s, she collaborates with architect Jean Nouvel on the establishment of the Foundation in a new building on Boulevard Raspail in Paris, which opens in 1994, where she launches the multimedia program “Nomadic Evenings.”
1994-1996: General Director of the American Center in Paris, Frank Gehry’s first building in France. During these years, she anchors the programming in urban culture, co-producing the electronic music festival Global Tekno with RADIOFG. The building is later sold to the French state and now houses the Cinémathèque. The American Center still exists, under the name Foundation For Arts Initiative.
1996-1999: Director of the museums of the Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs (Museum of Decorative Arts, Nissim de Camondo Museum, Museum of Fashion and Textile Arts, Museum of Advertising), she manages impressive collections that allow her to organize numerous exhibitions on modern and contemporary culture, such as “The Disoriented Object” in Morocco, curated by Jean-Louis Froment, Founding Director of the C.A.P.C. in Bordeaux.
2000-2009: The Grand Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art Foundation entrusts her with the direction of the Mudam in Luxembourg. Upon arrival, she multiplies partnerships with national and international institutions and initiates, with artists, a commissioning program open to all fields of creation (fashion, design, music, …). Named “Be The Artists’ Guest,” this program quickly becomes the museum’s core concept: a lively meeting place, designed from cellar to attic by artists. The Mudam, whose building was designed by IM Pei, opened in July 2006 with the exhibition “Eldorado.”
2001 and 2003: Curator for Luxembourg at the Venice Biennale, she presents the work of Luxembourg artist Su-Mei Tse, who won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation in 2003, the first in history to be awarded to a pavilion outside the Giardini.
2005 – present: Vice-President of the Artistic Council of the Prince Pierre Foundation for the International Contemporary Art Prize (P.I.A.C.), alongside successive artistic directors Jean-Louis Froment, Abdellah Karroum, Lorenzo Fusi, and Cristiano Raimondi, she has distinguished many leading and emerging artists.
April 2009 – April 2021: Director of the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Villa Paloma and Villa Sauber. Upon her arrival, her first mission was to open Villa Paloma, a building from the early 20th century redesigned by architect Alexis Blanchi and museographer Renaud Pierrard. The Villa opened in 2010 with the exhibition “La Carte d’après Nature” (curated by German artist Thomas Demand).
Distinctions

• Knight of Arts and Letters (awarded by the Ministry of Culture, France, 1986)
• Officer of the Order of Civil and Military Merit of Adolphe de Nassau (awarded by Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, 2008)
• Commander of the Grand-Ducal Order of the Oak Crown (awarded by the Ministry of Culture, Luxembourg, 2012)
• Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour (awarded by Fleur Pellerin, Minister of Culture and Communication, 2015)
• Commander of the Order of Cultural Merit (awarded by H.S.H. the Sovereign Prince, presented by H.S.H. the Princess of Hanover, 2021)