In 1985, Jack Lang entrusted Andrée Putman with the design of the spaces at the Ministry of Culture on Rue de Valois in Paris. This project marked a decisive moment: giving the institution a contemporary identity without erasing the memory of the site. Andrée Putman created a language of rigor and clarity, where noble materials engage in dialogue with more understated elements in a quest for balance. Far from ostentation, she transformed the constraints of the site into a narrative of harmony, where monumental gestures converse with everyday use. The ministry thus became the embodiment of a vision: an institutional space that breathes modernity and refined simplicity, faithful to Andrée Putman’s idea of public cultural service — exacting, yet open and alive.