In 1983 when artists Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle created the Stravinsky Fountain just outside the Centre Pompidou, I wasn’t sure what to think. Neither was anyone else. After all, it was only a few years earlier that Beaubourg (Centre Pompidou) was unveiled.

This center for the arts appeared to be built inside out, with all the pipes for water and ventilation running up the outside of the building, painted in brig...