Its genesis came about in 1896, under the leadership of the French statesmen Raymond Poincaré and Georges Leygues,[2] with the aim of purchasing works of art for national collections. The institution has three current directives: the welcoming of the public, the organizing of temporary exhibitions, and the holding of exhibitions and its permanent collections.
On 1 January 2011 the Réunion des Musées Nationaux merged with the public establishment of the Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées, which had been created in 2007. The new public institution is now governed by decree no 2011-52 of 13 January 2011.[3]
The RMN is responsible for 34 national museums. Two statutes exist for these national museums; most are also public institutions with legal and financial autonomy. The others are services with national jurisdiction (SCN [fr]), attached to the Museums Department of France (SMF [fr]).
