In 1988, we were chosen in the merit-based competition to design the installation of the galleries dedicated to the 17th to 20th centuries at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, located in the Louvre building. This was excellent news, since renowned designers such as Ettore Sottsass, Gaetano Pesce, and Andrée Putman participated in the competition.  

In the spring of that year, the museum's new director, Marie-Claude Beaud (until recently responsible for the Cartier Foundation), who was very unhappy with the recently completed reorganization of the medieval galleries, decided to interrupt the works and call for an international merit-based competition for the design of the rest of the museum.  

From the outset, it was essential for me to collaborate with a professional from Paris, and I decided to team up with the excellent interior designer Bruno Moinard, whom I had met as a collaborator for Andrée Putman. By mutual agreement, we decided to focus on the areas we considered to be the core of the museum: those designated to house the collections from the 17th to the 20th centuries.  

Despite the extremely complicated balance of forces involved for the client (the Louvre Museum, the management of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the curators of each section, the architect responsible for historic monuments, etc.), I remained hopeful that this tempting adventure would come to fruition.  

In mid-1999, after several months of heated deliberations, we were awarded the responsibility. I was the only foreign representative among the four winning teams, and I was convinced that the criteria of the young and enthusiastic director –who, contrary to the majority of the conservatives and the museum’s inflexible staff, envisioned an innovative museum with few, highly selected works, and appealing to a non-specialized public– had decisively influenced my selection. After a year, Marie-Claude Beaud could no longer bear the bureaucratic pressure she was under and decided to resign, leaving us in a very delicate situation. After several months, Beatrice Salmon was appointed as the new director. Immediately, we handed our project over to her, but our resignation was not accepted, and despite many difficulties, we continued with our work.  

At the completion of the project, I felt a mix of pride for what we had achieved and frustration for the ideas that were left behind. The obstacles to carrying out our ideas were tremendous. Although some aspects –such as modifying the route or not condemning the splendid windows that open onto Rue Rivoli and the Jardin des Tuileries– were carried out as planned, in other crucial areas –such as artificial lighting– my proposals were completely ignored. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the lighting system went from trying to recreate the atmosphere of the great films The Draughtsman's Contract or Barry Lyndon, to lighting based on halogen spotlights in a boutique. Other original ideas –that would have made the visit more stimulating, fun, and educational– were also left behind.