The world of museums has just lost an important figure. Marie-Claude Beaud has directed important institutions in which she organized exhibitions in varied fields, from graphic design to architecture to rock culture – all while ignoring traditional hierarchies. Assuming a fairly free, eclectic career, she said: “In my work, I always thought I was a smuggler. And that, therefore, what I pass on and to whom I pass it to is more important than me. »
A role as a smuggler that comes from her childhood: born February 22, 1946 in Besançon, near the Swiss border, “near the passage from one country to another”. Those around her quickly confronted her with difference, whether social or geographical, which undoubtedly aroused her curiosity for the international artistic scene later.
Marie-Claude Beaud studied art history and archeology in Besançon from 1963 to 1968 before obtaining a diploma in advanced studies in Grenoble. In 1975, she succeeded Maurice Besset (1921-2008), whose assistant she had been as director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Grenoble. Maurice Besset had a particular influence on her: he guided her, while she was a student, towards studies in the history of modern and contemporary art.
From 1976 to 1984, she directed the Toulon Museum of Fine Arts and taught at the school of art and architecture, as well as at the University of Marseille. In 1983, she became the first director of the Cartier Foundation, and in 1990 notably organized an exhibition on the links between Andy Warhol and the American group Velvet Underground. On this occasion, the Velvet musicians came together to give a concert. She also created nomadic evenings, during which contemporary artists take over the exhibition spaces and the Foundation’s garden for an evening.
Her career then took her to Decorative Arts in Paris and then to the Grand-Duc-Jean Museum of Modern Art (Mudam) in Luxembourg, which she directed from its creation in 2000 until 2008. She notably collaborated there with the architect of the Louvre pyramid Ieoh Ming Pei. Then she co-founded the Villa Noailles art center and finally took charge of the New National Museum of Monaco from 2009 to 2021.
In 2012, Marie-Claude Beaud was made Commander of the Grand Ducal Order of the Oak Crown for her work in Luxembourg. In France, she was named Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters and Knight of the Legion of Honor, then Commander of the Order and Cultural Merit in Monaco.
