The McDonald’s restaurant planned for the mall underneath the Louvre may be receiving a great deal of attention recently, though it is hardly the only change taking place at the famed museum these days, according to its director, Henri Loyrette.

Since joining the museum in 2001, Loyrette has overseen a series of ambitious fundraising plans, including loaning works to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta in exchange for a $6.4 million donation and hiring a staff to raise money for an endowment, which is designed to help meet the museum’s $315 million in annual costs. Support from the French government has decreased in recent years.

The art on view may also see some adjustments. Amazingly, Loyrette notes that only three paintings in the collection are by American artists, which he considers “a scandal,” one he is working to resolve. American artist Joseph Kosuth is in the process of organizing a show and Cy Twombly has been invited to paint the ceiling of the Salle des Bronzes, the room devoted to ancient bronzes. Currently 80 percent of visitors come only to see the Mona Lisa, according to Loyrette; he hopes to change that with more contemporary fare.

The director has also drawn attention by pursuing the controversial plan of opening a Louvre Abu Dhabi, a 260,000-square-foot museum designed by Jean Nouvel in exchange for a $572 million payment and other loans and fees totaling $787 million. And back in France, a wing for Islamic art is in the works at a cost of $67 million. When he arrived at the museum in 2001, Loyrette notes, there was not even a department devoted to the field.

Even I.M. Peis controversial design, featuring a glass pyramid, which celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year, may soon undergo some changes. Loyrette has asked Pei’s office to look at reconfiguring the entrance it designed for the museum. Attendance is up 67 percent since the start of the decade to 8.5 million annual visitors, a number which is expected to rise to 10 million by 2014. In the current layout, lines on busy days are enormous.

Read more at the New York Times.