The contemporary art collections
From the early 2000s, the museum decided to focus firmly on contemporary art, with a large number of acquisitions, works on deposit and exhibitions.
The recent acquisitions and, in particular, the deposits agreed to by the national contemporary art collection (now the “CNAP”) and the regional contemporary art collections (particularly FRAC Lorraine) have meant that the museum can now offer a wide-ranging view of contemporary creation. In 2001, the museum commissioned a work from François Morellet with a view to ensuring that the conservation building, which can be seen from the Neptune fountain, was in keeping with the rococo environment of the Place Stanislas. For once abandoning his strict geometrical lines, Morellet designed four golden yellow neon lights with baroque curves, in a Tribute to Lamour and to the decoration on the square’s metal gates.
2012 saw the arrival of new deposits to accompany the works of Jean Prouvé in the new room dedicated to the Nancy-born constructor. The chosen works echo his preferred materials (metal and wood) and his iconic geometric forms: works by André Cadere (untitled, 1969), Pierre Buraglio (Window, 1981) andFrançois Morellet (Cross crash, 2003).
Around the famous, spectacular Infinity Mirror Room Fireflies on Water (2000) by Yayoï Kusama, which is highly popular with museum visitors, you can admire works by Erik Dietman such as Package tour in the Adriatic (1999), Richard Fauguet’s strange animal, the Severed head by Emmanuel Saulnier (1991-1992), Winter is past (2014) by Carole Benzaken and the Doll (2007) by Françoise Pétrovitch.
