The Jeu de Paume Gallery

The Jeu de Paume is often associated with its photography exhibitions, but is not only a simple photo gallery, and now plays an active role in bringing all forms of contemporary images into public view.

The history of the Jeu de Paume

The Jeu de Paume was inaugurated almost 150 years ago, and as its name suggests ("jeu de paume"), it was originally a hall where this racket sport was played, the last of its kind in Paris. The building was designed in the same spirit as the Musée de l'Orangerie, built a few years earlier next door. It can be seen from the Hotel Brighton. Due to the success of tennis, the newer and more fashionable racket sport, the Jeu de Paume building lost its original purpose and was transformed into an art gallery. Ideally located near the Louvre, the Jeu de Paume was the museum's annex and presented all the Impressionist works until the opening of the Musée d'Orsay. In 2004, the Jeu de Paume national gallery became a place for modern and contemporary art, bringing together the Centre national de la photographie and the French photographic heritage.

An active role in cultural mediation 

Today, the gallery's artistic perspectives are broader and not limited to photography. The Jeu de Paume has become a place of reference where the images of the 20th and 21st centuries are made known to the public. A mediation effort has been carried out to allow artists to express themselves and to discover young talent, but also to make the works of art more accessible. The Jeu de Paume has set up a website dedicated to the artists' works, the virtual space project, designed as an art of communication. Finally, the Galerie du Jeu de Paume has a real educational ambition, organising a large number of colloquia where participants can debate the theme of the image. Outside the walls of the gallery, there are also encounters with other audiences, this time outside Paris, by presenting exhibitions in collaboration with the city of Tours. On an international level, the gallery also participates, alongside other institutions, in the organisation of cultural events.