Renzo Piano

Donated by the artist Winner of the prestigious Pritzker Prize in 1998, Renzo Piano (b. 1937 in Genoa) is one of the most important architects of our time. Piano has enjoyed international success in particular with his groundbreaking museum buildings, including the Menil Collection in Houston and the Fondation Beyeler, which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary. One of the Italian architect's most ambitious museum projects was the Centre Pompidou (1971-1977) in Paris, which Piano designed in collaboration with English architect Richard Rogers. The building, with its wealth of shapes and colors, continues to dominate the Paris cityscape to this day. In its revolutionary "inside-out" architecture, the building elements were color-coded according to function: green and blue ducts for water and climate control, yellow for electrical wiring, and access elements, such as escalators and elevators, in red. This color code, or code couleurs, is also the title of this architectural drawing of the Centre Pompidou, which was executed in 1999-2001 during the extensive refurbishment of the complex headed by Piano. The rapid, virtuoso sketch of the facade offers an outstanding insight into the architect's creative working method, and captures the essence of the iconic building on the sheet with precise strokes of the pen.