Founder's Bio
An art historian by training, Florence Derieux has nearly 30 years of experience as a museum director and curator in the contemporary art world, where she has built, led, and programmed art institutions on an international scale. She has worked with both public and private organizations in Europe and the U.S., acquiring extensive expertise in museum operations, collections, and patron engagement.
Her career began in 1997 in London and then in Amsterdam, where in 1999, she became the first French participant in De Appel Foundation's International Curatorial Training Program. The following year, Jérôme Sans and Nicolas Bourriaud recruited her as the first Curator of the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. At age 29, Jean-Louis Andral, Director of the Picasso Museum in Antibes, appointed her as his Deputy. She later served as interim Head of the Contemporary Art Department at Lausanne’s Museum of Fine Arts under Yves Aupetitallot before joining LE MAGASIN-National Center for Contemporary Art in Grenoble as Curator-at-Large.
From 2008 to 2016, she was Director of FRAC Champagne-Ardenne in Reims. Simultaneously, she was appointed by Art Basel for a three-year term as Curator of Parcours, the fair's only free-access public art program. In 2015, the Los Angeles-based Centre Pompidou Foundation recruited her as its first Curator of American Art and Curator-at-Large of the Centre Pompidou, prompting her relocation to New York. Since then, she has advised major public and private museums and collections, curated and coordinated ambitious exhibitions, and overseen the editing of significant publications, notably for the Centre Pompidou, Hauser & Wirth, and Musée national Picasso-Paris.
Florence Derieux has collaborated closely with hundreds of artists on exhibitions, commissions, acquisitions, performances, lectures, and other cultural events. She has edited and published numerous catalogs and monographs, including Tom Burr. Anthology: Writings 1991-2015 (Sternberg Press, 2015), Agnes Denes: Work 1969-2013 (Mousse Publishing, 2016), and Farah Atassi (Manuella Editions, 2022). She has also contributed texts to various books, magazines, and other publications.
She has taught Contemporary Art & Exhibition History at ESBA–National School of Art in Montpellier and at ECAL–University of Art and Design in Lausanne. Additionally, she served as a tutor for LE MAGASIN's International Curatorial Training Program in Grenoble. She has been an advisor to the board of Atelier Calder in Saché, France, and a member of the Scientific Committees of Fondazione Furla in Milan, the National Center for Visual Arts (CNAP) in Paris, and the French-American Fund for Contemporary Art of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York. She has also participated in various other committees and juries.
