Musée d'Art contemporain, Paris, France, 1931

Let me tell you about my contribution to the idea of the creation of a museum of modern art for Paris. Here, in preliminary sketches, is the image of a serene conception.

It is a means for bringing about, in Paris, the construction of a museum under conditions which are not arbitrary, but, on the contrary, follow natural laws of growth in the order in which organic life is manifested : an element capable of being added to harmoniously, the idea of the ensemble having preceded the idea of the individual part.

The museum can be started without money; truly, the first hall can be built for 100 000 francs.

It can be continued by one, two or four new halls, during the following months or two or four years afterwards, as desired. The museum has no façade; the visitor will never see a façade; he will only see the interior of the museum. One enters the heart of the museum by means of an underground passage and the wall opening for the entrance door would, once the museum has reached its full magnificent size, comprise the 9000th meter of the total developed length of the museum.

Extract from Le Corbusier, Oeuvre complète, volume 2, 1929-1934

FLC/ADAGP

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