Sacre Bleu - art is under attack in France. Culture and arts are part of the French psyche so Sarkozy is showing signs of being a philistine. The Guardian explains the problems in France ....
In the French arts world, there is a rebellious mood. Last month, the country's curators – not normally known for stepping out of line – published a scathing critique of the state of French museums. They warned that cuts to regional and local administration budgets meant small museums were in a "precarious" state, decaying and threatened with closure. One third of France's curators are due to retire in five years, and the government policy of making savings by not replacing all retired workers meant that museums would suffer.
They also warned against the state adopting free-market economics for the arts, saying state intervention must protect art for art's sake. "There's a huge gap between Paris and the provinces, between big and small museums," said Christophe Vital, head of the curators' association. "But that doesn't mean the big establishments don't have problems too."
Last year, the heads of the country's most important museums, the Louvre, the Pompidou and the Musée d'Orsay, warned the government against a "short-term" mentality of cost-cutting that could put their museums at risk.
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