Françoise Cachin (8 May 1936,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

– 4 February 2011, Paris) was a French

art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...

and

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

. She was the founding director of the Musée d’Orsay and the author of numerous books on 19th-century French painting.

Life

Françoise Cachin was born to the pediatrician Charles Cachin and his wife Ginette (née Signac).Cogeval, Guy
"Homage to Françoise Cachin."
Musée d'Orsay. Retrieved 16 February 2012. Her grandparents included the communist politician Marcel Cachin and the pointillist painters Paul Signac and Jeanne Selmersheim-Desgrange.Grimes, William
"Françoise Cachin, a Director of French Museums, Dies at 74."
''The New York Times.'' 9 February 2011. Retrieved 16 February 2012. Cachin studied art history under André Chastel at the

Institut d'Art et d'Archéologie The ''Institut d'Art et d'Archéologie'', also known as the Michelet Campus, is a building at 3 rue Michelet in Paris, built for the educational institution of the same name (French for "Institute of Art and Archaeology"). It was initially design ...

of the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

. After training at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

and the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, she worked as a curator at the

Musée National d'Art Moderne The Musée National d'Art Moderne (; "National Museum of Modern Art") is the national museum for modern art of France. It is located in the 4th arrondissement of Paris and is housed in the Centre Pompidou. In 2021 it ranked 10th in the list of ...

from 1969 to 1978, eventually becoming chief curator. In this capacity she organized numerous exhibitions, including an important

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

retrospective, and oversaw the museum's move from the

Palais de Tokyo The Palais de Tokyo (''Tokyo Palace'') is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, facing the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs to ...

to the new

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

. In 1978 Cachin joined the planning team for the new

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

. During this time she continued to organize exhibitions, including a major Manet retrospective in 1983. When the Musée d'Orsay opened in 1986 she was named director, and in this role organized retrospectives of

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

(1989) and

Georges Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , ; ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough ...

(1991). In 1994 Cachin left the head of the Musée d'Orsay and assumed the post of Director of French Museums, which carried the responsibility for over 1,000 museums across France. Despite this, she still found time to compile a

catalogue raisonné A (or critical catalogue) is an annotated listing of the works of an artist or group of artists and can contain all works or a selection of works categorised by different parameters such as medium or period. A ''catalogue raisonné'' is normal ...

of works by her grandfather Paul Signac, which was published in 2000. Cachin retired from her directorial position in 2001 but remained active in the museum world. She helped found the French Regional & American Museums Exchange (FRAME), and (unsuccessfully) lead opposition to the Louvre's plan to construct the Louvre Abu Dhabi. In 2009 she was named a Grand Officier of the

Ordre national du Mérite The (; ) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's establishment was twofold: to replace the large number of ...

. Cachin died on 4 February 2011 of

amyloidosis Amyloidosis is a group of diseases in which abnormal proteins, known as amyloid fibrils, build up in tissue. There are several non-specific and vague signs and symptoms associated with amyloidosis. These include fatigue, peripheral edema, weigh ...

, aged 74. She was at work editing the journals of Paul Signac.

Selected works

* * ''Gauguin : « Ce malgré moi de sauvage »'', collection «

Découvertes Gallimard (, ; in United Kingdom: ''New Horizons'', in United States: ''Abrams Discoveries'') is an Collection (publishing), editorial collection of Book illustration, illustrated monographic books published by the Éditions Gallimard in Pocket edition, ...

» (nº 49), série Arts. Éditions Gallimard, 1989, new edition in 2017 ** UK edition – ''Gauguin: The Quest for Paradise'', '

New Horizons ''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institut ...

' series. Thames & Hudson, 1992 ** US edition – ''Gauguin: The Quest for Paradise'', "

Abrams Discoveries Abrams may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Abrams (surname), a list of notable people with the surname Places United States * Abrams, Wisconsin, a town * Abrams (community), Wisconsin, an unincorporated community * Abrams Mountain, Colorado * Abr ...

" series. Harry N. Abrams, 1992 * ''Seurat : Le rêve de l'art-science'', collection « Découvertes Gallimard » (nº 108), série Arts. Éditions Gallimard, 1991 * ''Manet : « J'ai fait ce que j'ai vu »'', collection « Découvertes Gallimard » (nº 203), série Arts. Éditions Gallimard, 1994, new edition in 2011 ** UK edition – ''Manet: Painter of Modern Life'', 'New Horizons' series. Thames & Hudson, 1995 ** US edition – ''Manet: The Influence of the Modern'', "Abrams Discoveries" series. Harry N. Abrams, 1995

Life

Selected works

References

Further reading