Sylvain Amic, the art historian who became director of Paris's prestigious Musée d'Orsay in 2024, died suddenly on Sunday in southern France at the age of 58. According to Rima Abdul Malak, France's former culture minister, Amic died of heart failure. His unexpected death has sent shockwaves through the international art world, particularly given that he had assumed leadership of one of Paris's most visited museums just 16 months ago.
The news of Amic's passing has prompted an outpouring of tributes from prominent figures in French culture and politics. Laurence des Cars, the current president and director of the Louvre Museum and Amic's predecessor at the Musée d'Orsay, praised him as "a promoter of an imaginative and open culture" in a statement posted to social media. French President Emmanuel Macron also paid tribute to Amic on X, writing that he "knew the universal emancipatory power of our culture, between heritage and creation."
Born in Dakar, Senegal, in 1967 to French parents, Amic's career path was both diverse and distinguished. Before entering the museum world, he led a school in Banjul, Gambia, demonstrating his early commitment to education and cultural exchange. He transitioned into museum curation in the late 1990s, beginning a career that would span over two decades.
From 2000 to 2011, Amic worked at the Musée Fabre in Montpellier, France, a museum renowned for its collection of 19th and 20th-century French art. This experience provided him with deep expertise in the very period that forms the core of the Musée d'Orsay's collection. Following his time in Montpellier, he moved to Rouen, where he demonstrated his leadership abilities by bringing together a consortium of 11 museums under the unified banner of the Museums of Rouen.
Starting in 2022, Amic took on a new role as an adviser to Rima Abdul Malak during her tenure as French culture minister, which lasted until 2024. This position gave him valuable insight into cultural policy at the national level and helped prepare him for his subsequent appointment to lead the Musée d'Orsay.
Amic's death comes at a particularly active time for the museum, as he was spearheading several ambitious projects. The Musée d'Orsay was preparing to open a new research center under his leadership, and he was also overseeing plans for a comprehensive rehang of the museum's permanent collection. Additionally, he had recently led the planning for a traveling exhibition of masterworks from the museum's holdings, which toured internationally to great acclaim.
When the traveling exhibition visited Shanghai's Pudong Art Museum this summer, Amic spoke about his vision for making historical art relevant to contemporary audiences. He described the show as emblematic of his goal "to keep the past alive and to show that it need not remain stale or stodgy." This philosophy reflected his broader approach to museum leadership, which emphasized accessibility and contemporary relevance.
In an interview with Souquée earlier this year, Amic articulated his forward-thinking approach to museum management. "Even though people in the past made great efforts to preserve art, we still need to ask ourselves: Is this concept still relevant today?" he said. "Therefore, the way we work is to make the museum as contemporary as possible by responding to today's problems, showing how the collection, art history and the history of that era are still important resources for us to understand the world and draw inspiration."
Amic's sudden passing represents a significant loss for the French cultural landscape and the international museum community. His innovative approach to making classical art accessible to modern audiences, combined with his extensive experience in museum management and cultural policy, had positioned him as a leading voice in contemporary museum practice. The projects he initiated at the Musée d'Orsay will serve as part of his lasting legacy in the art world.
