The Centre Pompidou and EnChroma Improve Arts Experience for Colour Blind Visitors

– Centre Pompidou is the First Museum in France to Offer EnChroma Colour Blind Glasses to Enable Accessibility to the Arts for Millions of People –

Paris, France & Berkeley, California – December 14, 2022 – The Centre Pompidou Museum today announced that colour blind visitors are now able to borrow EnChroma glasses for colour blindness during visits to the iconic museum. The Centre Pompidou is internationally renowned for its collection of modern and contemporary art totaling over 120,000 works – the most extensive in all of Europe. 

One in twelve men (8%) and one in 200 women (0.5%) are colour blind – about 2.8 million in France, 30 million in Europe and 350 million globally. With over three million annual visitors, an estimated 128,000 guests to the Centre Pompidou are colour blind. EnChroma glasses will enhance museum accessibility and improve the experience for color-blind visitors by allowing them to perceive a broader range of clear, vibrant colors in artwork for the first time in their lives.

“Always concerned with offering the best visitor experience to all audiences, the Centre Pompidou is delighted to offer people with colour blindness the possibility of trying EnChroma glasses, a very innovative device in the museum sector,” said David Cascaro, Director of the Public Division, Centre Pompidou.

While people with normal colour vision see over one million shades and hues of colour, colour blind people see only an estimated 10% of them. To the red-green colour blind, colours appear dull and washed out, with some difficult to distinguish from each other. Common colour confusions include green and yellow, grey and pink, purple and blue, and red and brown. This can detract from the ability of colour blind people to fully experience colourful art.

"We are thrilled that one of the world’s foremost visionaries in arts and culture – the Centre Pompidou – is demonstrating its commitment to accessibility and inclusion for those with colour vision deficiencies by loaning EnChroma glasses to guests," said Erik Ritchie, CEO of EnChroma. "Their example will generate more awareness for the prevalence and effects of colour blindness, inspire other museums and organizations to follow their lead, and ultimately expand opportunities for colour blind people to more fully experience colorful, iconic artwork like never before.”

The Centre Pompidou is the first museum in France to support the needs of colour blind guests via the EnChroma Colour Accessibility Program™. The program already helps colour blind people at nearly 200 public institutions – including libraries, schools, universities, national parks, gardens, tourism bureaus and 80+ major museums – more fully experience colours in art, nature and overcome obstacles to learning. Other museums participating in the program include the Gallerie d’Italia in Italy, the Chau Chak Wing Museum in Australia, Centraal Museum Utrecht in The Netherlands, and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Dallas Museum of Art, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in the US.

Special optical filters in EnChroma glasses help colour blind people perceive a wider range of colours and to see them more vividly and distinctly. A study by the University of California, Davis, and INSERM, the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research, demonstrated the effectiveness of EnChroma glasses. A separate recent study in the scientific publication Eye-Nature also highlights the benefits of the glasses.

EnChroma Colour Accessibility Program™

EnChroma is the leading advocate for accessibility for those with colour blindness. The company donates a pair of glasses for every pair an organization purchases. EnChroma also provides materials for institutions to educate the public or teachers, students and parents about colour blindness and its effects. Public organizations interested in the EnChroma Program can email accessibility@enchroma.com.

About the Centre Pompidou

Since 1977, the Centre Pompidou has been deeply rooted in the city of Paris and open to the world and to innovation. Its iconic building is home to Europe's richest and one of the world's largest collections of modern and contemporary art, in addition to exhibitions, symposiums, festivals, shows, projections, and workshops for young people. Its extremely rich programme at the crossroads of art forms and audiences attracts more than 3.5 million visitors every year. True to its ambition to make culture and creation available to as many people as possible, the Centre Pompidou also develops its regional and international presence. For more information, visit: centrepompidou.fr.

About EnChroma

Based in Berkeley, Calif., EnChroma produces leading-edge eyewear for color blindness and low vision, and other solutions for color vision, sold online and through Authorized Retailers worldwide. Invented in 2010, EnChroma’s patented eyewear combines the latest in color perception, neuroscience and lens innovation to improve the lives of people with color vision deficiency around the world. EnChroma received an SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It earned the 2016 Tibbetts Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration in recognition of the firm’s innovative impact on the human experience through technology, and the 2020 Innovation Award in Life Sciences from the Bay Area’s East Bay Economic Development Alliance. Visit enchroma.com to learn more.