Henri Loyrette

Henri Loyrette (born May 31, 1952, Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris, France) is a French arts administrator and historian who served as director (2001–13) of the Louvre Museum in Paris. He was especially recognized for expanding the display of the museum’s collections and the museum itself to locations outside France.

Loyrette received a master’s degree in history and studied in Rome at the Academy of France (1975–77). Upon his return to France in 1978, he was appointed curator at the Musée d’Orsay, where he remained for 23 years, becoming director in 1994. The Orsay boasted the largest collection of 19th-century art of any French museum, and Loyrette, whose specialties were 19th-century painting and architecture, organized a number of successful exhibitions there. These exhibitions not only spotlighted the works of major figures such as the caricaturist Honoré Daumier and the Impressionists Edgar Degas (on whom Loyrette was an expert) and Édouard Manet but also presented the work of lesser-known European artists. Loyrette also organized exhibitions on the origins of Impressionism and on the relation of Impressionism to Art Nouveau, in addition to the noted 1987–88 exhibition “Chicago, Birth of a Metropolis.” Loyrette’s writings included books on Degas, Gustave Eiffel, and other 19th-century artists, as well as on Marcel Proust’s views on modern art.

Loyrette held important positions in several French cultural organizations and was widely honoured. He served as secretary-general of the French Committee on Art History and was a member of the board of directors of a number of institutions, including the National Graduate School of Decorative Arts and the Cité de la Musique, an interactive museum in Paris. When he was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1997, he was its youngest member.

In 2001 Loyrette was appointed to the directorship of the Louvre Museum. Not only was he one of the youngest persons ever to head the Louvre, but it was also notable that he had not risen through the ranks at the institution, which was the normal path of advancement to the top. Among the most significant of Loyrette’s accomplishments as director was the brokering of a 2007 deal to open a branch of the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The deal, which was valued at more than $500 million and was sharply criticized, enabled Loyrette to create in 2009 an endowment for the Louvre, which became the first French museum to hold such a fund. The move came as the French government decreased its financial support of the institution, making fundraising an increasingly important aspect of Loyrette’s directorship. His tenure was also marked by a number of ambitious projects, including the construction of both an Islamic art wing at the Louvre and a regional museum in Lens, Pas-de-Calais département (both opened in 2012). In addition, he notably added works by contemporary artists to the Louvre’s collection. Loyrette’s various initiatives proved popular, as the number of visitors to the museum doubled during his tenure. In 2013 he stepped down as director.

Loyrette subsequently served as president (2013–15) of Admical, a nonprofit organization involved in corporate philanthropy.