A Life at the Louvre.(Pierre Rosenberg)(Brief Article)(Interview)

Pierre Rosenberg began working at the musee du Louvre in 1961, and for the last seven years served as director until his government-imposed retirement in April on the eve of his 65th birthday. During those 40 years, Rosenberg witnessed great changes in everything from why people go to museums to how the museums themselves look and are run. Though attendance is at a record high, Rosenberg believes the future of museums is grim. He recently spoke with NEWSWEEK's Dana Thomas in his art-filled home on the Left Bank. Excerpts:

THOMAS: What is the biggest challenge facing museums today?

ROSENBERG: We need to bring people back to museums, and not only to see the "Mona Lisa." How many people have returned to museums because they discovered their beauty and pleasure? Very few, I suspect. You cannot go to Paris without going to the Louvre. It's a sort of obligation. I'm not sure it's always a pleasure, either.

Why is that?

Because works of art are not easy to understand. And I think this is a real issue for the future. Until now there was art education in schools. You had a little bit of knowledge about antiquity and Old and New Testament. Now this knowledge is lost all over the world. What is the Annunciation, for example? The Louvre does deal with 1 million children each year. But that's not enough. If the problem is not taken up by the Ministry of Education, it won't work. And that's everywhere. Without education, I am sure we are lost for the future.

In recent years, the big draw has not been the permanent collections but short-term megashows.

Yes, it's true. And I've done my share. At the beginning, we thought at the Louvre--like the National Gallery in London--that there was enough in a museum, and that the exhibitions should be in another place. Now we know that to get people back to museums you need to have events.