Director of the Musée de La Poste for only a year, Valérie Perlès took the helm on October 23 of the Paul-Eluard Museum of Art and History in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis). She succeeds Anne Yanover who left last April for the Guimet Museum. An ethnologist graduated from the University of Versailles (UVSQ), she is a former student of the National Heritage Institute (INP) in museology (Henry Jones JR promotion).
It was upon leaving the INP in 2011 that she took charge of the Albert-Kahn Museum (Boulogne-Billancourt), overseeing its renovation until 2019. She designed the museum’s route and created a festival dedicated to contemporary photography, the Allers-Returns Festival (2012-2015). She was responsible for the Ethnology – Intangible Cultural Heritage mission in 2021 and 2022 within the Ministry of Culture.
The Municipal Museum of Saint-Denis is located in a former 17th century Carmel, near the Saint-Denis Basilica. The museum houses correspondence and manuscripts of the poet Paul Eluard, including the first writing of the poem Liberté. It also preserves historical, literary and Fine Arts collections, from medieval archeology to the history of the Paris Commune.
The city is counting on the arrival of Valérie Perlès to set up a new multidisciplinary course, highlighting the heritage and history of the city. An exhibition, “A century of printing(s). In the Delâtre workshop in Montmartre”, is currently presented until December 11 – organized by students of the Ecole du Louvre.