Art Basel’s Meet the Collectors series celebrates today’s most inspiring patrons 

CEO of the real estate group Emerige, Laurent Dumas draws his passion for collecting from his love of architecture and construction. On October 17 and 18, 2026, Emerige opens Le Large in Boulogne-Billancourt, on the western edge of Greater Paris: a new contemporary art center dedicated to showcasing excellence, with a particular focus on artists living and working in France. ‘I believe that you have to know how to give back, how to share,’ says Dumas.

For its inaugural exhibition, 'Moteur Imaginaire', Le Large turns to the history of Île Seguin itself. Long known as ‘Île Renault’, the island was home to the French car manufacturer for nearly a century, until the factory’s closure in 1992. The site carries a rich and layered past: a nerve center of industrialization, it also played a significant role in the May ’68 protests, with its workforce deeply embedded in the trade union movement. ‘It was unthinkable not to devote the first exhibition to Renault’s history,’ says Dumas, who wishes to bring the carmaker’s art collection – rarely exhibited in France – to a wider public.

To shape this vision, Italian curator Cecilia Alemani, artistic director of the 59th Venice Biennale, has brought together around 60 artists, including among them Neïl Beloufa, Bianca Bondi, Théo Mercier, Jean-Luc Moulène et Laure Prouvost. ‘We’ll see her vision of how the machine is evolving today – what it has done to humankind, what humankind has done to it, and what it represents as a force for emancipation.’

'Moteur Imaginaire', Le Large, 17 October 2026–7 March 2027.

On Thursday, October 22, 2026, Laurent Dumas will be in conversation with artist Eva Jospin as part of the Art Basel Paris 2026 Conversations programme. Book your free seat.