Cécile Debray Appointed Director of Musée Picasso Paris

French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed Cécile Debray, 54, as the new director of the Musée Picasso in Paris, succeeding Laurent Le Bon who moved to the Centre Pompidou. Debray, a specialist in modern and contemporary painting, previously served as chief curator at the Centre Pompidou (2008–2017) and directed the Musée de l'Orangerie, where she managed the collection including Monet's Nymphéas and curated exhibitions on Matisse, Cézanne, and Picasso. Her mandate includes intensifying exhibitions and educational activities, attracting audiences, and promoting Picasso's work in a contemporary context, with a focus on the 2023 anniversary of the artist's 50th death. The Musée Picasso holds the world's largest public collection of the Spanish master, with 5,000 works and tens of thousands of archival pieces spanning painting, sculpture, prints, drawings, sketches, notebooks, photographs, illustrated books, and films. The French Ministry of Culture stated Debray will maintain the relevance of Picasso's work and strengthen the museum's appeal locally and internationally.