With its maze of galleries, rotundas, 2,800 doors, and immense nave crowned by a dome of glass and steel, the Grand Palais is a structure like no other. Sumptuously cinematic images have traveled the globe – not least during the 2024 Paris Olympics – of what its president, Didier Fusillier, notes to be ‘the largest monument in the capital.’ And it is, of course, also the Parisian home of Art Basel.

Appointed head of the public institution in September 2023, succeeding Chris Dercon, Fusillier has not grown weary, since the full reopening of the site this summer, of watching ‘visitors dazzled’ by its restored architectural glory. Yet the massive building and its ambitious programming are only ‘the tip of the iceberg,’ he says with a smile, when asked about the scope of his role. The other part lies in the Réunion des musées nationaux (RMN) – an entity whose origins date back to 1895, when its mission was to acquire artworks for the national collections.

Bringing together a wide array of expertise in museography, the RMN merged with the Grand Palais in 2011. ‘This national body now manages 16 castles and museums,’ Fusillier explains, ‘including the Musée de Cluny, the national museum of the Middle Ages in Paris, the Musée national de Préhistoire in Les Eyzies, and the Musée national Marc Chagall in Nice, among others. And one should also mention remarkable sites like the Château de Compiègne.’

Beyond its significant publishing activities, the GrandPalaisRmn oversees 38 museum shops, most notably those at Versailles, the Musée d’Orsay, and the Louvre. It also runs a remarkable casting workshop. This jewel of the GrandPalaisRmn produces faithful reproductions of sculptures for the most prestigious French and international museums, while also taking on special commissions from contemporary artists such as Daniel Arsham, Jeff Koons, and Prune Nourry. ‘We don’t work with 3D technology,’ says Fusillier, ‘but with traditional molds, using marble powder and a particular resin capable of capturing with great precision the forms of the statuary.’ The workshop, located in Saint-Denis, also preserves valuable original molds, such as one of Michelangelo’s Pietà and the bas-reliefs from the temple of Angkor in present-day Cambodia. ‘It’s a truly sensational place,’ he adds.

As the Grand Palais renovation nears completion, Fusillier must now balance the institution’s budget while beginning to repay the 200-million-euro loan that financed the work. A mission that is complex, to say the least, though the mental weight of it doesn’t appear to faze him. ‘It’s actually rather joyful,’ affirms the athletic-looking sixty-something-year-old. A passionate sailor and seasoned cyclist, this ‘man of the North,’ as he likes to describe himself, has spent most of his career outside Paris and seems to be impervious to stress. No doubt he is also savoring this prestigious position – arriving, as it does, at the height of his career – as a kind of crowning moment.

Nothing in his background predicted such a role. ‘I come from theater,’ he says lightly, as if his early days as director of the Théâtre le Manège, in Mons, Belgium, marked him forever as a kind of showman. He retains from that period a taste for live performance and has consistently cultivated a spirit of popular celebration – a ritual joy that he considers ‘essential to a society’s balance.’

Digital arts, dance, performance, theater – an eclectic mix of forms and disciplines has become his hallmark – from the Exit festival at the Maison des Arts de Créteil (his stronghold from 1993 to 2015), to the programming of Lille 3000, which he led until 2015, after orchestrating the success of Lille as European Capital of Culture in 2004. He later carried that same formula to La Villette, where he developed the concept of the Micro-Folies – a playful, high-tech initiative that brings the works of France’s major museums to regional and international audiences.

Acrobatic choreography (as in Rachid Ouramdane’s Vertige in June 2025), exhibitions, theater, dance, performances, ballroom events, Brazilian parades, and DJ sets, as well as culinary and sound experiments by Fun Palace – the opening season of his programming, titled ‘Grand Palais d’été’, deployed the full range of ingredients Fusillier has perfected throughout his career. The building’s sumptuous setting only added to the mix, which included everything from Danish royal tapestries to inflatable artworks and waacking battles – a recipe with an added touch of glamour.

This transdisciplinary ambition relies on co-productions, since ‘this great empty shell’ has no collection of its own. A stroke of luck perhaps for the Centre Pompidou, now under renovation, which has taken over six of the galleries. But does this pose something of a constraint? Fusillier brushes the idea aside as absurd: ‘Without the Centre Pompidou, we wouldn’t have been able to mount an exhibition like the one devoted to Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, and Pontus Hultén, or the upcoming show opening in mid-December, titled ‘Trait pour trait’, which focuses on masterpieces from the Pompidou’s graphic arts holdings.’ A strategic partnership, then – like with the support of Chanel, the institution’s grand mécène (meaning its primary patron) – whose backing is essential to a program reliant entirely on ticket sales and sponsorship.

While he is committed to once again staging major exhibitions – such as the one held in late 2024 of spectacular thread installations by Chiharu Shiota – Fusillier is equally intent on capturing the attention of Generation Z, through a fully open cultural offering and tailored subscription formats that provide unlimited, privileged access to GrandPalaisRmn exhibitions, along with exclusive discounts and benefits.

This year will also host the fifth edition of Art Basel Paris and will end in a kind of grand finale, with a double invitation extended to contemporary artists Claire Tabouret and Eva Jospin. Fusillier admits with cheerful candor that it was only this summer that he realized the exhibition – which will present a new dialogue between the work of the painter and the sculptor – is scheduled for this December, not the following year. A momentary lapse, perhaps.

What is the secret of the GrandPalaisRmn's president’s ongoing curiosity amid such a demanding schedule? ‘I’m connected to an international network. I obviously work as part of a team, and I travel a lot to see exhibitions and events, even if it often means quick turnarounds,’ he explains. ‘That’s how I recently discovered a phenomenal percussion group in Brussels, saw the installation of an artist I admire at Unlimited in Basel, and came across the Dolce & Gabbana exhibition last year at the Palazzo Reale in Milan.’ Fashion, to him, is an obvious extension – especially given that the Grand Palais already hosts CHANEL’s runway shows.

Among his firmly held convictions is the belief in free public access to the building – now a reality. ‘Nearly 7,000 square meters are open free of charge, with family-friendly spaces like the Salon Seine. That was something I cared about deeply,’ says this tireless advocate for the democratization of art.

The Grand Palais is a mighty ship, and the seas ahead will no doubt be rough. But this devotee of the Vendée Globe (a solo sailing race around the world, held every four years in France) has no fear of the waves – and no love for calm waters.