In the old garden district, in the heart of a detached house, the Maison des Papillons is the original work of a passionate amateur, the painter Dany Lartigue.
Dany Lartigue has turned this site into a museum, the only one of its kind in the world.
The museum fulfils an aesthetic, educational and scientific role, presenting butterflies in an original way: pinned to landscapes that the artist had previously painted, at the back of glass boxes, this display demonstrates the complex relationships of mimicry and camouflage that link butterflies to their biotope.
"A museum that serves the butterfly but doesn't use it," says Dany Lartigue. "They are the image of happiness. They fertilize flowers as they forage, and live on nothing but delicacies and love. That's all they think about.
All the diurnal species of France, as well as a collection of exotic butterflies, make up this collection. More than 35,000 specimens are on display, including endangered and now protected species, little-known varieties and rarities such as the Mercantour Black Apollo.
"I had fallen in ecstasy in front of a butterfly: how magnificent it was! I had been touched by grace. This feeling of supreme happiness at the sight of a butterfly has stayed with me all my life, and even today, on the threshold of eternity, each of the butterflies that populate the fairytale world of my museum moves me to the very depths of my being", explains Dany Lartigue.
To ensure the museum's continuity, Dany Lartigue donated his home-museum to the town, which now looks after and enhances the collections.
The Maison des Papillons, Musée Dany Lartigue is equipped with a removable ramp to enable access to the first floor and the museum garden for people with reduced mobility (to help you prepare for the visit of people with reduced mobility, please contact the museum).
La Maison de Papillons - Musée Dany Lartigue
17, rue Etienne Berny
83990 Saint-Tropez
Tel.: 04 94 55 90 10
https://www.facebook.com/papillonssainttropez/
papillons@ville-sainttropez.fr
https://www.saint-tropez.fr/culture/maison-des-papillons/
