“It’s an open-heart operation during which the patient remains awake. » From his huge office, located at 5e floor with a view of Central Park, Max Hollein, 55, uses a surgical metaphor to describe the magnitude of the renovation work carried out at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York establishment that he has directed since becoming president, in 2018, and CEO for a year and a half. Unlike Beaubourg, in Paris, or the Pergamon, in Berlin, the MET, as its visitors affectionately call it, will not close.
This fall, around 10% of the approximately 200,000 square meters of exhibition space are under construction, some on a modest surface area such as the renovation of the Korean art gallery, others are much more important, such as the renovation of the wells of light, to adapt the museum to climate change, or the redesign of the Rockefeller wing. Dedicated to the arts of sub-Saharan Africa, ancient America and Oceania, it has been closed since 2021 to improve its scenography and lighting, at a cost of $70 million.
Renovation work. Concerned about “inclusiveness”, Max Hollein wants to highlight artists from minorities and situate the works in their historical and sociological context.
James Leynse/Réa for Challenges
A space dedicated to children
The workers are busy. The inauguration will take place next May. In ten years, points out the director, Austrian by birth, “a quarter of the galleries will have been transformed”. The investment is gigantic: $2 billion, compared to an annual operating budget of $340 million. Objective : “Ensure that the museum supports a changing world and is as welcoming as possible. » Max Hollein does not speak “from the public”more “audiences, each with their own sensitivity, culture and desires”.
Founded 154 years ago on the model of the Louvre, the MET has an encyclopedic vocation, spanning five millennia. Unlike its prestigious Parisian counterparts, where the collections are distributed according to the era between different establishments (Louvre, Orsay, Beaubourg, etc.), everything is grouped together: “The United States is not Europe, observes the boss. The collections were not created for the glory of a king or an emperor, but for their visitors. They must stick as closely as possible to their expectations and to developments in society. » Hence the efforts made to put the works in their historical and sociological context, particularly in these times of wokism.
Max Hollein. “The United States is not Europe,” observes the CEO of the MET. The collections were not created for the glory of a king or an emperor, but for their visitors. »
James Leynse/Réa for Challenges
It is about “bringing periods into dialogue”. This is how, in the European gallery renovated from top to bottom (for $150 million) and reopened in November 2023 after six years of work, a head of Christ from the 14the Italian century and three self-portraits by Francis Bacon painted in 1979. Concerned with “modernize the institution”Max Hollein wants to address all generations. Last year, was even opened 81st Street Studioa space dedicated to children, particularly large for a museum: 300 m2not counting the stroller parking.
Jeff Koons among antiques
At number 1,000 of the 5e Avenue, we move forward “forced march”. Max Hollein sees himself as « un leader », “a conductor” who supervises the work, budgets, new acquisitions, staff (2,200 employees). “He had the guts to question previous decisions to choose daring young architects,” appreciates New York architect Paul Aferiat. Since his arrival, the Austrian has overseen more than 100 exhibitions, not to mention the gigantic charity-social events, typically American, which he presides over, such as the annual gala where celebrities compete in eccentric outfits.
Long Tail Halo, 2024, by Korean artist Lee Bul. The MET has an encyclopedic vocation, covering five millennia.
James Leynse/Réa for Challenges
Son of the extremely famous architect Hans Hollein, to whom Beaubourg devoted a retrospective in 1987, the director is one of the few on the world scene to have the skills, experience and nerve to shake up the big liner. Max Hollein is a business-minded scholar with a dual background in art history and management. At the beginning of the 2000s, he left his mark with his often bold, sometimes confusing initiatives, generally financed by budgets that he had raised himself.
Responsible for three museums in Frankfurt am Main (Germany), he gained attention by organizing an exhibition of Jeff Koons sculptures among antiques. It also formed a partnership to animate its website with video games Minecraft. Or even wearing yellow rubber boots, posing in front of a portrait of Goethe to attract investors.
Courteous but indecipherable
Under his presidency, the three establishments broke attendance records. This art of being disruptive to raise funds was noticed by American patrons, whom he knows well having started his career at the Guggenheim in New York. Before being poached by the MET, he directed the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, where he caused a sensation by organizing an exhibition on Muslim fashions.
“Here, museums are based on philanthropy,” pursues the one who, according to The New York Timesis paid $1 million per year. That is three times more than the director of the British Museum and infinitely more than his French counterparts.
Courteous but inscrutable, Max Hollein is a CEO who must be accountable to his donors and directors. In English, we say trustees, of « trust » (trust). Across the Atlantic, no appointment decree Official Journal, no Bercy to plan the allocation and no President of the Republic to dictate major projects, not even a Ministry of Culture.
No satellite museums
Everything is financeable at the MET. Even the title of the boss, who collected an additional endowment by becoming “Max Hollein Marina Kellen French director”, in homage to the great art collector. Can we imagine a French museum director turning into a sandwich man? “The American mode of governance is so different from that of Europe, summarizes Mohamed Bouabdallah, cultural advisor at the French embassy in New York. It gives more freedom compared to the State, which is not very present, but is accompanied by a very great involvement of trustees, the object of all care. »
Max Hollein takes on this weight from the board, which made him undergo four interviews before hiring him. “They both want to make sure we stay within budget, but are curious to know what the next project will be. » Among them, the brand new Tang wing (sponsored by a financier of Chinese origin of the same name) dedicated to modern and contemporary art, which will be inaugurated in 2029.
There is one project, on the other hand, that the director will not lead: creating satellite museums, like the Louvre did in Abu Dhabi. “International cooperation is more than enough for us. » A major Sargent exhibition will open at the MET in the spring and arrive at the Musée d'Orsay in the fall.
Afro-futuristic installation. In these times of wokism, for the MET it is a question of “bringing periods into dialogue”.
James Leynse/Réa for Challenges
Pression wokeHis appointment shook the landernau of wokism, outraged that the tenth director of the Met was still a « white male.” This is also why Max Hollein integrates with so much care the cancel culturein vogue on both sides of the Atlantic, as the exhibition showed The black model from Géricault to Matisse (Orsay, 2019), inspired by a Met curator. Max Hollein has had an “afro futuristic” installation installed since 2021, which illustrates “the complex relationships between history and authenticity”.Concerned “inclusivity”he had minority artists showcased in his museum and the works placed in their historical context. “He acts in the American way, sometimes excessively,” laughs a French museum manager. In mid-2020, one of the Met curators spoke on Instagram, the French revolution. “How many great works have been lost because of the desire to rid ourselves of a past that we do not approve of? » The rebel has since left office.
