The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux was officially created by consular decree in 1801, following the distribution of works from the Museum Central to fifteen major provincial cities.
It also owes its birth to the vocation and tenacity of a painter, Lacour père, who was its founder and first curator.
A little history...
In 1803, some thirty works sealed the Museum's opening.
In 1820, all the works were moved to the outbuildings of the Palais Rohan, now the Bordeaux Town Hall.
It is largely thanks to the Lacaze collection that Bordeaux today ranks among the very first public collections of Dutch painting in France.
From 1851 onwards, the Société des Amis des Arts organized an annual exhibition accompanied by a lottery, resulting in numerous purchases, including Delacroix's “Greece on the Ruins of Missolongh” and “The Lion Hunt”, Léon Cogniet's “Tintoretto Painting his Dead Daughter”, Corot's “The Bath of Diana” and Daubigny's “The Banks of the Oise”.
Architect Charles Burguet is commissioned to design two new buildings, harmonized with the Palais Rohan.
Work was completed in 1881.
The collection was enriched by the remarkable holdings of three world-renowned Bordeaux painters: Odilon Redon, Albert Marquet and André Lhote.
As part of the “Mai de Bordeaux”, and at the initiative of Jacques Chaban-Delmas, a series of major international exhibitions ensured the renown of the Galerie des Beaux-Arts.
In autumn 2013, Bordeaux will host an exhibition devoted to the famous Goupil gallery, which was a veritable school for French and foreign artists, particularly Italians.
In the 19th century, the dealer Adolphe Goupil commissioned scenes of contemporary daily life, set in elegant interiors and shady gardens, but also antique or 18th-century scenes, urban views and lively landscapes that quickly became popular and appreciated by European collectors, critics and dealers. This creation fuelled an international “collectionism” whose effects lasted well into the 20th century.
The Museum today...
The Museum's collection of paintings, sculptures and graphic arts shines through its many loans to French and foreign museums - between 200 and 300 each year.
The collections are divided between the museum's two wings. It covers a significant panorama of European art from the 15th to the 20th century: Perugino, Titian, Veronese, Brueghel de Velours, Van Dyck, Rubens, Chardin, Delacroix, Corot, Rodin, Kokoschka, Picasso, Matisse...
Works by Bordeaux-born artists such as the neoclassical Lacour and Taillasson, the symbolist Redon, the fauvist Marquet, the Bordeaux Art Deco painter Dupas and the cubist Lhote also feature prominently.
The museum also offers a rich cultural program and a dynamic mediation policy for all publics. Discover 10 masterpieces from the permanent collection thanks to the new Le sens du détail.feature.
The Galerie du Musée des Beaux-Arts, built in 1939 and located next door to the museum, hosts the museum's major exhibitions.
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux
20 Cours d'Albret,
33000 Bordeaux
Tel.: 05 56 10 20 56
http://www.musba-bordeaux.fr/
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