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Private company

Centre national des arts plastiques

Logo: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Logo_Cnap.svg , in turn derived from http://www.cnap.fr/files_infos/3_THEORIE_CRITIQUE.pdf, Non-free logo, via Wikipedia3

Museum in France

The Centre national des arts plastiques (National Centre for Visual Arts, or CNAP) is a French institution established in 1982 under the Ministry of Culture and Communication that promotes creation of visual arts. It provides assistance to artists and galleries, and manages the Fonds national d'art contemporain (FNAC; National Foundation for Contemporary Art).2 It is headquartered in Pantin.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1982Founded1
  • Industrypublic administration in healthcare and social services1
  • HeadquartersParis1
  • Websitewww.cnap.fr
  • Legal formnational public establishment of an administrative nature1

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The Centre national des arts plastiques (National Centre for Visual Arts, or CNAP) is a French institution established in 1982 under the Ministry of Culture and Communication that promotes creation of visual arts. It provides assistance to artists and galleries, and manages the Fonds national d'art contemporain (FNAC; National Foundation for Contemporary Art).2

The story

The CNAP has its origins in the Division des Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts Division) created in 1791 just after the French Revolution with its own budget to encourage living artists and educate citizens. This was succeeded in turn by the Bureau des Beaux-Arts in 1800, Bureau de l'encouragement des Arts in 1879, the Bureau des Travaux d'art in 1882 and finally the Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP) in 1982. Throughout this history the goal was to encourage creation of contemporary work. CNAP was created by a prime ministerial decree of 15 October 1982, under the Minister of Culture.

From Wikipedia’s article on Centre national des arts plastiques, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. 1982Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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