The Museum of Grenoble (french: Musée de Grenoble) is a municipal museum of

Fine Arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

and antiquities in the city of Grenoble in the

Isère Isère ( , ; frp, Isera; oc, Isèra, ) is a landlocked department in the southeastern French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.Isère River, place Lavalette, it is known both for its collections of ancient art for its collections of modern and contemporary art. Thanks to the action of one of its curators of the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

(Andry-Farcy), it is considered the very first museum of

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

in France. Its temporary rooms allow it to organize two exhibitions each year.

History

Louis-Joseph Jay par Jacques-Augustin Pajou

The Museum of Grenoble was founded on 16 February 1798 by Louis-Joseph Jay, well before other French provincial museums. That day, an order of the local administration detailed the creation of a ''museum'' in Grenoble, in which article 10 stipulated that « the citizen Louis-Joseph Jay is appointed curator of this museum. » In May of that year, the Interior Minister canceled the creation of the museum but a provisional authorization was obtained in December, which became final on 3 April 1800. Beginning in 1799, while engaged in collecting works of art of the

Isère Isère ( , ; frp, Isera; oc, Isèra, ) is a landlocked department in the southeastern French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.San Bruno by Eustache Lesueur, and the last hall was called Hall of the Venus de Medici, displaying art of the Flemish school. A few months after its opening, the Concordat of 1801 by

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

forced the evacuation of the premises of the museum to restore them to their original purpose. So in this way it was relocated on 14 July 1802 into the Central School, which is currently the Stendhall School ( Lycée Stendhal). On 12 March 1807, a decree transformed the museum from a county museum into a municipal museum. On 15 February 1811 an imperial decree allocated 209 paintings to six French cities and gave 32 to Grenoble. In 1815, despite a partial dispersion of works as a result of the '' Restoration'', (57 paintings were returned to their owners, 11 disappeared and an unknown number were deposited in the churches) the collection continued to increase. The acquisitions, donations and legacies continued throughout the 19th century and made it essential to construct a new building despite there having been a building expansion in 1844. Ancien musée-bibliothèque - Grenoble

A new building designed by the architect Charles-Auguste Questel was inaugurated in 1870 on the current site of Verdun Square. The museum-library, so called because it also housed the ''Municipal Library of Grenoble'', is one of the great examples of museum architecture in France and Europe. Towards the end of the 19th century, a major patron, General Leon de Beylié added to the museum's collection by donating four famous paintings by Francisco de Zurbarán, continuing a long tradition of donations and bequests. De Beylié had a direct and massive influence on the wealth and the nature of the collections. From 1895 until his accidental death on 15 July 1910, he bought for the museum 50 paintings, 13 drawings, 16 sculptures, 13 pieces of archeology and hundreds of objects from the Far East. From 1920 to the early-1950s, the Museum of Grenoble was considered the premier museum of contemporary art in France, since the Paris museum did not open until 1947. It was even one of the first museums in the world, together with the ''Folkwang Museum'' in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

(Germany) and the ''Muzeum Sztuki'' in Łódź (Poland), as well as the Museum of Modern Art in New York which did not open until 1929. In 1982, President

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

announced a plan to construct a new building. The following year, the new mayor of Grenoble Alain Carignon, and the Minister of Culture Jack Lang, agreed on the idea and on the site of the new building, on a parking lot near the centre of town. After the selection of architects in 1987, construction began in 1990. On January 30, 1994, the new building housing the collections was inaugurated by Prime Minister Édouard Balladur. Located in the heart of the city, bordering the Isère River, it tripled the exhibition space of the old museum. Its total cost was 203 million French francs (31 million euros). To complete the Museum there is a sculpture garden in the Albert Michallon park, a wooded area of 16,000 m² surrounding the old city wall from the late 19th century.

History of the location of the new museum

The current location of the museum was occupied since the 13th century by the great monastery of the Brothers Minor, known in France as the Cordeliers or Franciscans until they moved to the current Berulle Square in 1592. Integrated into the city in the 13th century by an extension of the Roman wall, the place was at the eastern extremity of the town and remained so until the 19th century, while different generations of fortifications were built over the centuries. Thus was built the Tower of the Island in 1401, serving as a defence system that allowed relative autonomy for the consuls of the city who considered it to be their main "home City". In 1591, the future Duke of Lesdiguieres, who came to take possession of the city during the religious wars, built a new fortified wall, turning the place into a small fortress called ''Arsenal'' to protect himself from any rebellion of the inhabitants. In this way the area became the first barracks in the history of the city. Mur d'enceinte 1888 - Musée de Grenoble

In the 19th century, General Haxo enlarged the precincts of the city from 1832 to 1836 by building a new fortification wall close to the ''Arsenal''. Historically a place of military occupation, the area was occupied during the 19th century by several barracks of which Vinoy barracks was on the site of the museum and the Bizanet barracks was opposite. Around 1888, a change was made to the Haxo wall. At the urging of the mayor, Edouard Rey, and the population, the engineer created a new gate, the Gate of ''Saulaie'' to serve the new district of Green Island. This new gate obliged the military for technical reasons to correct the path of the Haxo wall, building a new line of wall square to the old wall down to the edge of the Isère River at the site of an old

Ravelin A ravelin is a triangular fortification or detached outwork, located in front of the innerworks of a fortress (the curtain walls and bastions). Originally called a ''demi-lune'', after the ''lunette'', the ravelin is placed outside a castle ...

fortification. This new wall of 150 linear meters has been preserved from the sculpture garden to the football field then going through part of the structure of the Museum. In 1967 the Vinoy barracks were demolished, leaving room for a large parking lot.

Architecture building

The present building of 18,270 sq.m. was inaugurated in 1994 as part of a program of large works in the province initiated in 1982. It was designed by architects Olivier Félix-Faure, Antoine Félix-Faure and Philippe Macary from the architectural firm from Grenoble ''Groupe6'', assisted by museographer Lorenzo Piqueras. On the site there were severe design constraints. The imperatives were in respect to the immediate vicinity of the site. To the North-west a part of the Lesdiguieres wall dating from 1591 are recorded as being historical monuments. Nearby, the ''Tower of the Island'' dating from 1401, is also a register structure. To the east, the modified part of the wall built around 1888 must be conserved, forcing the integration of part of it inside the building. Finally to the east, access to a football stadium must to be retained during the development of the structure for an area with high urban population density. The museum is built over a huge parking lot on three levels keeping it safe from flooding from the Isère River. For the exhibition areas, the museum itself is built on three levels, but most of the display halls are located at level 0. At this level, the halls are served by a wide central aisle. On the left are the five sequences of ancient art, on the right are temporary exhibitions. The end of the aisle has been left empty of any work, in an arc, this huge area is dedicated to the 20th century and also gives access to the Tower of the Island. Levels -1 and -2 are smaller floors, and thus have a limited number of rooms. Their lighting is no longer an overhead light useful for study as in the halls of level 0. At level-1 has installed after the lobby, three rooms of Greek, Etruscan and Egyptian antiquities, and at the other end of the building, four rooms covering art at the end of the 20th century (after 1960). Below, level-2 has six rooms for the 21st century. It is also at this level that leads to the spectacular integration of the end of the 19th century wall into this futuristic building. A few metres from the building, the museum features via a skywalk of glass and steel, the Tower of the Island, transforming it into a place of exhibition graphics. The architecture also incorporates the district football stadium into the complex. Inside, the transitions between levels are equipped with wide ramps and three lifts to travel between floors. The rooms are designed to rest the eye: uniform wooden floors, white walls, etc. Around the cylindrical entry hall, are the reception counter, library, shop, and cafeteria. Upstairs museum offices, as well as those of the Association of Friends of the Museum, the Association of Museum in Music, which organizes concerts in an auditorium of 275 seats in partnership with The Louvre and finally the André Chastel library equipped with a specialized collection of 55,000 art history books available to consult on site.

Museum curators

Two Curators have made a special mark on the history of the museum: Louis-Joseph Jay and Andry-Farcy. The first created and ensured the implementation of the museum from 1798 to 1815 before leaving the estate to Benjamin Rolland. Painters Alexandre Debelle and Jules Bernard ensured the succession as preservationists. Then during the 20th century, there were Xavier Borgey and in particular Pierre André Farcy, called Andry-Farcy, curator from 1919 to 1949, who decisively guided the museum in favour of the collection of modern art. He left but agreed to come back in exchange for the promise of displaying a number of contemporary works by Matisse, Picasso and Monnet beside some of the great works of the museum. This caused a violent press campaign against him. His opponents would come to name his art gallery, the "rigolarium" omedy house His successors were Jean Leymarie, Gabrielle Kueny, Maurice Besset, Marie-Claude Beaud,

Pierre Gaudibert Pierre Gaudibert (3 March 1928 – 17 January 2006) was a French art curator and critic. He was the inaugural curator of the contemporary art section at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, where he exhibited left-wing artists. He was als ...

, Hélène Vincent (Temporary for 2 years), Serge Lemoine, and, since 2002, Guy Tosatto.

Attendance

Overall, the average annual museum attendance in the 2000s was 180,000 visitors.

Collections

The museum offers the possibility of following without interruption western history from the 13th to the 21st century, with each period represented by first rank works of art. Less known to the general public, as a parenthesis to the main course, there is a collection of 115 African statues and artifacts are in the aisle between the 19th and the 20th century. The visitor has the opportunity to use an audio guide for a fee that allows him to view the collections at his own pace. The commentaries are recorded by actors and are short and lively. The permanent collections altogether consist of 1,500 works in 57 rooms of m² which are grouped as follows:

Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman

Two rooms are located off the lobby, the level-1 is devoted to antiquities from ancient Egypt, with particularly beautiful sarcophagi. One room is devoted to Roman antiquities, and another room to Greek antiquities. The city of Grenoble is linked to the story of Champollion and that of Egyptology. From the 18th century, there are ancient Egyptian pieces from excavations run by the antiques office of the municipal library of Grenoble, of which

Jean-François Champollion Jean-François Champollion (), also known as Champollion ''le jeune'' ('the Younger'; 23 December 17904 March 1832), was a French philologist and orientalist, known primarily as the decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphs and a founding figure in th ...

was the assistant librarian. It is natural that the collection found in the museum has not ceased to be enriched by many gifts in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Most important discoveries have been made by the French Society during archaeological excavations conducted in 1907 and 1913, following the excavation of Antinoöpolis, of Touna-el-Gebel, and of Kom el Ahmar, and later by the family of Count Saint-Ferriol in 1916. In April 2010, the "''prophétesse d'Antinoé''", a 6th-century mummy discovered in 1907 in a Coptic

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

Antinoöpolis Antinoöpolis (also Antinoopolis, Antinoë, Antinopolis; grc, Ἀντινόου πόλις; cop, ⲁⲛⲧⲓⲛⲱⲟⲩ ''Antinow''; ar, الشيخ عبادة, modern ''Sheikh 'Ibada'' or ''Sheik Abāda'') was a city founded at an older Egyp ...

in Middle Egypt, was returned to the Museum of Grenoble, after more than fifty years of absence. The collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities is regarded as the fifth largest in France, after that of the Louvre, the Museum of Archeology Mediterranean in Marseille, Lyon, and Dijon. It includes furniture and funerary objects of everyday life. The entire tomb is impressive, especially the fragmentary tomb of Amenhotep son of Hapu, vizier of

Amenhotep III Amenhotep III ( egy, jmn-ḥtp(.w), ''Amānəḥūtpū'' , "Amun is Satisfied"; Hellenized as Amenophis III), also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different ...

. A third room of antiquities contains an interesting collection of Greek and Etruscan ceramic statues.

13th to 16th century

Salle N°1 XIII-XVIe siècle - Musée de Grenoble

The collection begins with the origins of Western painting, then quickly reaches the period of Renaissance art. *''Santa Lucia'' assigned to Jacopo Torriti * Three part work: ''The Virgin and Child with St. Gerard, St. Paul, St. Andrew and St. Nicolas'' (1395) by Taddeo di Bartolo *''Christ meeting a woman and the sons of Zebedee'' and '' Noli me tangere'' by

Veronese Veronese is the Italian word denoting someone or something from Verona, Italy and may refer to: * Veronese Riddle, a popular riddle in the Middle Ages * ''Veronese'' (moth), a moth genus in the family Crambidae * Monte Veronese, an Italian chees ...

*''The statue of Hercules'' a bronze dating from the 16th century and made by the sculptor Jacob Richier in the 17th century, a copy is placed in the centre of the ''City Garden'' at the Hôtel de Lesdiguières in Grenoble. Works of Pérugin (2 paintings), Fra Bartolomeo (attributed to), Giorgio Vasari, Adrien Ysenbrandt, and

Georg Pencz Georg Pencz (c. 1500 – 11 October 1550) was a German engraver, painter and printmaker. Pencz was probably born in Westheim near Bad Windsheim/Franconia. He travelled to Nuremberg in 1523 and joined Albrecht Dürer’s atelier. Like Dürer, ...

can also be found in this section.

17th century

This prestigious section is devoted to French, Flemish, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian painters and includes many masterpieces. In particular the following works can be mentioned: *''Saint Jerome'' by Georges de La Tour * The finest collection of paintings by Francisco de Zurbarán in a French museum. * ''Pope Gregory surrounded by saints'' by

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

* Six paintings by Philippe de Champaigne (second to the Louvre in collection size) * ''Noli Me Tangere'' and his hanging ''The appearance of Christ to pilgrims of Emmaus''

Laurent de La Hyre Laurent de La Hyre (; 27 February 1606 – 28 December 1656) was a French Baroque painter, born in Paris. He was a leading exponent of the neoclassical style of Parisian Atticism. Life La Hyre was greatly influenced by the work of Italian art ...

. * ''The card game in a Hotel'' by David Teniers, scene of daily life in the 17th century. Many other works can also be found such as: * L'Albane * Gioacchino Assereto : ''Le Songe de Jacob'', acquis en 2011 * Abraham Bloemaert * Gerard ter Borch * Sébastien Bourdon * Pieter Bruegel the Younger *

Annibale Carracci Annibale Carracci (; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother and cousin, Annibale was one of the progenitors, if not founders of a leading strand of th ...

* Bernardo Cavallino * Gaspard de Crayer * Dominiquin * Meindert Hobbema *

Gerard van Honthorst Gerard van Honthorst (Dutch: ''Gerrit van Honthorst''; 4 November 1592 – 27 April 1656) was a Dutch Golden Age painting, Dutch Golden Age painter who became known for his depiction of artificially lit scenes, eventually receiving the nickn ...

Jacob Jordaens Jacob (Jacques) Jordaens (19 May 1593 – 18 October 1678) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and tapestry designer known for his history paintings, genre scenes and portraits. After Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, he was the leading Fle ...

: ''Le Sommeil d'Antiope'', 1650 et ''L'Adoration des bergers'' *

Jean Jouvenet Jean-Baptiste Jouvenet (1 May 1644 – 5 April 1717) was a French painter, especially of religious subjects. Biography He was born into an artistic family in Rouen. His first training in art was from his father, Laurent Jouvenet; a generation earl ...

* Charles de La Fosse * Charles Le Brun * Eustache Le Sueur * Robert Le Lorrain : ''Paysage pastoral'' (1644) * Pierre Mignard *

Adam François van der Meulen Adam Frans van der Meulen or Adam-François van der MeulenAdam Frans van der Meulen
at the

Mattia Preti : ''The Martyr of Saint Peter'' *

Nicolas Régnier Nicolas Régnier (1591–1667), known in Italy as Niccolò Renieri, was a painter, art dealer and art collector from the County of Hainaut, a French-speaking part of the Spanish Netherlands. He is often referred to as a Flemish artist because t ...

* José de Ribera * Peter Paul Rubens * Salomon van Ruysdael * Frans Snyders * Bartholomeus Spranger * Matthias Stom * Bernardo Strozzi *

Alessandro Turchi Alessandro Turchi (1578 – 22 January 1649) was an Italian painter of the early Baroque, born and active mainly in Verona, and moving late in life to Rome. He also went by the name Alessandro Veronese or the nickname ''L'Orbetto''. His style ...

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

* Claude Vignon * Simon Vouet : ''Le Christ apparaissant à saint Antoine Abbé'' (vers 1638–1639)

18th century

The works of this century are presented in the majestic grand format of the French school, such as ''Martyrdom of St Andrew'' painted in 1749 by Jean Restout for the collegiate Church of Saint-André in Grenoble. *''The Point of the Customs at Venice'' Canaletto *''The Doge of Venice carried by the gondoliers'' by

Francesco Guardi Francesco Lazzaro Guardi (; 5 October 1712 – 1 January 1793) was an Italian painter, nobleman, and a member of the Venetian School. He is considered to be among the last practitioners, along with his brothers, of the classic Venetian school of ...

. * ''Animals flowers and fruit'', painted in 1717 by

François Desportes François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, King ...

*''Snowy Landscape with rocks and Travelers'' painted around 1750 by

Francesco Foschi Francesco Foschi (1716 – 21 February 1780) was an Italian painter best known for painting winter landscapes. Biography He was born in Ancona in the Marche. He moved to Rome in 1729 and encountered the works of other painters of ''veduta''. He ...

*''Roger arriving in Alcine Island'', 1740 by Hyacinthe Collin de Vermont (One of the largest paintings in the museum) Other paintings are notably by:

Nicolas de Largilliere Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...

, Hyacinthe Rigaud, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Joseph-Marie Vien,

Sebastiano Ricci Sebastiano Ricci (1 August 165915 May 1734) was an Italian painter of the late Baroque school of Venice. About the same age as Piazzetta, and an elder contemporary of Tiepolo, he represents a late version of the vigorous and luminous Cortonesqu ...

, Giovanni Paolo Pannini, and Thomas Gainsborough. This section also displays many busts by Antoine Barnave.

19th century

The 19th century is illustrated by a remarkable ensemble from the final period of

neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...

until the period of

Les Nabis Les Nabis (French: les nabis, ) were a group of young French artists active in Paris from 1888 until 1900, who played a large part in the transition from impressionism and academic art to abstract art, symbolism and the other early movements of m ...

, with works by: *

Frédéric Bazille Jean Frédéric Bazille (December 6, 1841 – November 28, 1870) was a French Impressionist painter. Many of Bazille's major works are examples of figure painting in which he placed the subject figure within a landscape painted ''en plein air''. ...

* Charles-Alphonse-Paul Bellay *

Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast o ...

* Gustave Courbet * Eugène Delacroix * Gustave Doré : ''Loch in Scotland after the Storm'' (1875–1878) * Henri Fantin-Latour whose wife left an important legacy to the Museum in 1921. * Augustin Feyen-Perrin * Paul Gauguin : ''The White River'' and ''Portrait of Madeleine Bernard''. * Théodore Géricault * Girodet-Trioson : ''Portrait of Benjamin Rolland'' (1816). *

Gabriel Guay Gabriel Guay (October 14, 1848 – September 15, 1923), whose full name was Julien Gabriel Guay, was a French painter and teacher. From 1873 he exhibited works at the annual Paris Salon. He painted portraits, and also scenes inspired by literature ...

: ''Le Lévite d'Ephraïm'' (1878). * Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres *

Maximilien Luce Maximilien Luce (13 March 1858 – 6 February 1941) was a prolific French Neo-impressionist artist, known for his paintings, illustrations, engravings, and graphic art, and also for his anarchist activism. Starting as an engraver, he then ...

Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but t ...

: ''The House of Folly at Eragny'' (1885). *

Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that " ...

* Pierre Révoil * Théo van Rysselberghe * Alfred Sisley * Félix Vallotton : ''Naked Woman sitting in an Armchair'' (1897). Essentially an art museum, the Museum of Grenoble nevertheless has some sculptures from the 19th century, mostly in rooms 18 and 19, including that of ''Phryne'' from

James Pradier James Pradier (born Jean-Jacques Pradier, ; 23 May 1790 – 4 June 1852) was a Genevan-born French sculptor best known for his work in the neoclassical style. Life and work Born in Geneva (then Republic of Geneva), Pradier was the son of a Pr ...

. In room 17, is a plaster 2 metres high of

by the sculptor Bartholdi. This plaster has served as a model for the marble sculpture at the Collège de France in Paris.

Regional art of the 19th century

The Dauphinoise school of the 19th century reached a level that justifies the prominence it holds in the museum. If a large room displays these small paintings it is above all this landscape format that gives them their soul. The founder of this school, Jean Achard created the first majestic landscapes that excited the painters that followed:

Laurent Guétal Laurent Guétal, also known as the Abbé Guétal (12 December 1841, Vienne (Isère), Vienne - 18 February 1892, Grenoble) was a French landscape painter and Catholic priest. Life and work He was ordained a priest in 1862, and spent much of his ...

Charles Bertier Charles Alexandre Bertier (1 October 1860 – 26 July 1924) was a French landscape painter. Biography His family owned a glove making business. He entered the "Petit Séminaire du Rondeau", where he studied design with Laurent Guétal, who ...

, Ernest Hebert, the Abbe Cales. Many of these painters, despite the topographical precision required, thought it an inspired vision.

20th century

; Rooms from 24 to 48 Partie XXe siècle - Musée de grenoble

The section of the 20th century is particularly rich because the museum is considered the oldest museum of contemporary art in France. Spread over more than twenty rooms, the collection covers modern art from the beginning of the century to the most recent formal developments. Part of the collection comes from the important legacy of Agutte – Sembat. All the trends and movements of the painter are present, such as

Fauvism Fauvism /ˈfoʊvɪzm̩/ is the style of ''les Fauves'' (French language, French for "the wild beasts"), a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the Representation (arts), repr ...

with the paintings of Henri Matisse (8 paintings), André Derain,

Albert Marquet Albert Marquet (27 March 1875 – 14 June 1947) was a French painter, associated with the Fauvist movement. He initially became one of the Fauve painters and a lifelong friend of Henri Matisse. Marquet subsequently painted in a more naturali ...

, Raoul Dufy, Maurice de Vlaminck,

Emile Othon Friesz Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *''Emil and the Detective ...

(6 pictures),

Jean Puy Jean Puy (8 November 1876 in Roanne, Loire – 6 March 1960 in Roanne) was a French Fauvist artist. Life and work He studied architecture at the École nationale des beaux-arts de Lyon and painting with Jean-Paul Laurens at l' Académie Julia ...

Charles Camoin Charles Camoin (; 23 September 1879 – 20 May 1965) was a French expressionist landscape painter associated with the Fauves. ''Les Fauves: A Sourcebook'', by Russell T. Clement, p. 2, web: -->&lpg=PA2 Google Books Born in Marseille, Franc ...

(Nude with purple shirt, acquired in 2012), and Kees van Dongen.

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

with

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...

, Albert Gleizes and

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

. The School of Paris, represented by

Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (, ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and ...

, Chaïm Soutine, Maurice Utrillo, and Chagall. Four paintings illustrate the different artistic periods of Pablo Picasso while there are also works of painters such as

Pierre Bonnard Pierre Bonnard (; 3 October 186723 January 1947) was a French painter, illustrator and printmaker, known especially for the stylized decorative qualities of his paintings and his bold use of color. A founding member of the Post-Impressionist ...

, Jacques Villon, Natalia Goncharova, Paul Signac, Henri-Edmond Cross (5 paintings), Claude Monet, Georges Rouault, Robert Delaunay, Kurt Schwitters,

George Grosz George Grosz (; born Georg Ehrenfried Groß; July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a German artist known especially for his caricatural drawings and paintings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objec ...

, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, František Kupka, Theo van Doesburg,

Jean Arp Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp (16 September 1886 – 7 June 1966), better known as Jean Arp in English, was a German-French sculptor, painter, and poet. He was known as a Dadaist and an abstract artist. Early life Arp was born in Straßburg (now Stras ...

, Nicolas de Staël,

Balthus Balthasar Klossowski de Rola (February 29, 1908 – February 18, 2001), known as Balthus, was a Polish-French modern artist. He is known for his erotically charged images of pubescent girls, but also for the refined, dreamlike quality of his image ...

Bernard Buffet Bernard Buffet (; 10 July 1928 – 4 October 1999) was a French painter, printmaker, and sculptor. He produced a varied and extensive body of work. His style was exclusively figurative. The artist enjoyed worldwide popularity early in his caree ...

and Hans Hartung. Matisse donated his ''Interior of eggplants'', Pablo Picasso's ''Woman reading'' in 1921 Claude Monet's ''Corner of the pond at Giverny'' in 1923. Great names of surrealism are also present such as Giorgio de Chirico, René Magritte,

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , , ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramicist born in Barcelona. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona i ...

, Max Ernst, André Masson, Francis Picabia, and Yves Tanguy. Sculptures are also present in some rooms with works of

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

, Georges Rouault(''female nude'', c.1909), Henri Laurens, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Jacques Lipchitz, Julio Gonzalez, Ossip Zadkine, Max Ernst (''A lost Chinaman''),

Alberto Giacometti Alberto Giacometti (, , ; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draftsman and printmaker. Beginning in 1922, he lived and worked mainly in Paris but regularly visited his hometown Borgonovo to see his family and ...

, Alexander Calder, and even Henri Matisse, again thanks to the Agutte-Sembat legacy. The Museum of Grenoble is also a reference for contemporary art, its collection is one of the oldest in France, including works by Pierre Soulages, Christian Boltanski (''Monument''), Christo, Tàpies, Andy Warhol, Donald Judd,

Robert Ryman Robert Ryman (May 30, 1930February 8, 2019) was an American painter identified with the movements of monochrome painting, minimalism, and conceptual art. He was best known for abstract, white-on-white paintings. He lived and worked in New York ...

, Jean Dubuffet, Jean Peyrissac,

Annette Messager Annette Messager (born 30 November 1943) is a French visual artist. In 2005 she won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Biennale for her artwork at the French Pavilion. In 2016, she won the prestigious Praemium Imperiale International Arts Award. ...

and Rebecca Horn. In 2012, the Museum of Grenoble acquired one of the thirteen pinned cubist collages of Pablo Picasso dated Spring 1914. Acquired for an amount of 750,000 euros thanks to the patrons club of the museum, "Glass" will be presented for three years for two-month periods starting from 19 December 2012.

21st century

; Rooms from 49 to 54 The last rooms located on level-2 are devoted to the present century. They highlight the great diversity of forms and concerns explored by the creators of today using diverse materials, techniques and inspiration. The ''Blue Head'' by

Thomas Schutte Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

is characteristic of this diversity.

Drawings

Paul Gauguin, Te nave nave fenua - Musée de Grenoble

Most often displayed in the ''Tower if the Island'', arranged into an exhibition of graphic arts, the old collection consists of drawings mainly from donations and bequests of Léonce Mesnard in the 19th century. He will devote part of his life to his writings and collections. At his death in May 1890, the Mayor of Grenoble, Auguste Gache, gave a eulogy on his great generosity in leaving 3,207 items to the Museum. Italian drawings predominate, especially the Venetians, and the Florentines of the Renaissance and of Seicento although there are also many other single drawings. The Museum owns drawings by: Parmigianino (Parmesan),

Palma the Younger Iacopo Negretti (1548/50 – 14 October 1628), best known as Jacopo or Giacomo Palma il Giovane or simply Palma Giovane ("Young Palma"), was an Italian painter from Venice and a notable exponent of the Venetian school. After Tintoretto's death ...

Agostino Ciampelli Agostino Ciampelli (29 August 1565 – 22 April 1630) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. He trained with Santi di Tito in Florence, and painted in Rome under Clement VIII, including a ''Crucifixion'' for Santa Prassede and a ''Sain ...

Guido Reni Guido Reni (; 4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious ...

, Guercino, Luca Giordano,

Giambattista Tiepolo Giovanni Battista Tiepolo ( , ; March 5, 1696 – March 27, 1770), also known as Giambattista (or Gianbattista) Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice who painted in the Rococo style, considered an import ...

, Giandomenico Tiepolo,

, Giovanni Battista Piazzetta etc.. The old French drawings have recently been studied by Guillaume Kazerouni, Barbara Brejon de Lavergnée, and Jérôme Delaplanche, resulting in the publication of a catalogue and enabling new attributions through the discovery of new designs: for the 17th century, a collection of drawings was found by artists such as:

, Philippe de Champaigne, and

Vouet Simon Vouet (; 9 January 1590 – 30 June 1649) was a French painter who studied and rose to prominence in Italy before being summoned by Louis XIII to serve as Premier peintre du Roi in France. He and his studio of artists created religious and m ...

. The 18th century is represented by famous artists such as Watteau, Hubert Robert, and David. The Dutch school stands out for its importance most notably

and

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

. The 19th century is characterized by an important series by artists such as: Eugène Delacroix, Paul Gauguin,

Fantin-Latour Henri Fantin-Latour (14 January 1836 – 25 August 1904) was a French painter and lithographer best known for his flower paintings and group portraits of Parisian artists and writers. Biography He was born Ignace Henri Jean Théodore Fantin-Lat ...

, and

Jongkind Johan Barthold Jongkind (3 June 1819 – 9 February 1891) was a Dutch painter and printmaker. He painted marine landscapes in a free manner and is regarded as a forerunner of Impressionism. Biography Jongkind was born in the town of Lattro ...

with watercolors by Dauphiné. The 20th century collection ranks second in terms of importance for a French museum after the National Museum of Modern Art. As for the paintings, they owe much to the policy of the curator Andry-Farcy. In 1923, the legacy of Agutte-Sembat brought in 24 drawings including a charcoal sketch of ''The Dance'' by Matisse in 1909. Other than Matisse (with 28 works in all) the collection includes drawings by:

Antonin Artaud Antoine Marie Joseph Paul Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (; 4 September 1896 – 4 March 1948), was a French writer, poet, dramatist, visual artist, essayist, actor and theatre director. He is widely recognized as a major figure of the E ...

, Alexander Calder,

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

, Jean Cocteau, André Derain (''Portrait of Francis Carco''), Raoul Dufy (68 works), Max Ernst,

Leonard Foujita was a Japanese–French painter and printmaker born in Tokyo, Japan, who applied Japanese ink techniques to Western style paintings. At the height of his fame in Paris, during the 1920s, he was known for his portraits of nudes using an opalescen ...

, Julio Gonzalez, Juan Gris, František Kupka,

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

, Alberto Magnelli,

, André Masson,

, Pablo Picasso (''Glass'', glued paper from 1914 acquired in 2012), Kurt Schwitters, Paul Signac, Cy Twombly, Suzanne Valadon, Maurice de Vlaminck, Édouard Vuillard, and Ossip Zadkine.

Some works exhibited

File:Paolo Veronese 015.jpg,

Paul Veronese Paolo Caliari (152819 April 1588), known as Paolo Veronese ( , also , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, known for extremely large history paintings of religion and mythology, such as ''The Wedding at Cana'' (1563) and ''The ...

, '' Noli me tangere'' File:Georges de La Tour 011.jpg, Georges de La Tour, ''Saint Jérôme'' File:La Anunciación, por Francisco de Zurbarán.jpg, Francisco de Zurbarán, ''L'Annonciation'' File:Francisco de Zurbarán 005.jpg, Francisco de Zurbarán, ''L'Adoration des bergers'' File:Saint Grégoire pape, entouré de saints et de saintes - Rubens - Musée de Grenoble.jpg, Peter Paul Rubens, ''Saint Grégoire pape, entouré de saints et de saintes'' File:Stom, Matthias - Le repas d'Emmaüs.jpg, Matthias Stom, ''Le Repas d'Emmaüs'' File:Jean Duvergier de Hauranne.jpg, Philippe de Champaigne, ''

Jean Duvergier de Hauranne Jean du Vergier de Hauranne, the Abbé (Abbot) of Saint-Cyran, (1581 – 6 October 1643) was a French Catholic priest who introduced Jansenism into France. Life Born in the city of Bayonne to a noble family, Vergier studied theology at the Catho ...

'' File:Henri Fantin-Latour 001.jpg, Henri Fantin-Latour, ''Autoportrait'' (1859) File:Paul Gauguin 098.jpg, Paul Gauguin, ''Portrait de Madeleine Bernard'' File:Amedeo Modigliani, 1917, Femme au col blanc, oil on canvas, 81 x 60.2 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Grenoble.jpg,

, ''Portrait de femme au col blanc'' (1917)

The sculpture garden

A sculpture garden, a concept born in the 17th century, has been installed on the perimeter east / north-west of the museum, in Albert-Michallon Park. Covering an area of 16,000 m², in 1964 it was the first development allowed at the location of an old half moon fortification. Overall, the park is a square shape and meets the path of the massive 19th-century fortification wall that ends inside the museum. Beautifully landscaped, this park contains the oldest tree in the city, a Cedar from Lebanon planted in 1847. It offers a unique opportunity in the heart of town to display outdoor sculptures. The surface of the Michallon Park does not allow an unlimited area to present sculptures. In 1988, the choice of development was focused on the 20th century period, consistent with the extensive collection of the contemporary art museum. Going to the park through the front of the museum, partly framed by the walls built at the end of the 16th century by the Duke of Lesdiguieres, two works in metal and a bronze statue placed on the Esplanade François Mitterrand can be seen. These are: * Alexander Calder – ''Monsieur Loyal'', 1993, height 9 metres, painted steel 1967 * Mark di Suvero – ''Polar Star'', 23 meters high, 18 metres wide, painted steel 1972 * Marcel Gimond – ''Girl standing'', bronze 1934, (in front of the 16th century wall) In the Albert Michallon Albert Park, some works closest to the museum, such as ''Duna'', are visible from the inside. These are: *Robert Wlérick – ''Standing Female Nude'', patinated bronze, (1936–1942) *

Marta Pan Marta Pan (12 June 1923, Budapest — 12 October 2008, Paris) was a French abstract sculptor of Hungarian origin. Early life Marta Pan was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1923. She studied art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Budapest. Work Pa ...

– ''Duna'' (Danube, Hungary) 1992, height 3.30 metres, 5 discs of pink granite 1991 * Ossip Zadkine – ''Orpheus'', bronze 1948 *

Bernar Venet Bernar Venet (born 20 April 1941) is a French conceptual artist. Early life Bernar Venet was born to Jean-Marie Venet, a school teacher and chemist, and Adeline Gilly and was the youngest of four boys. He was brought up in Château-Arnoux-Sain ...

– ''Three Indeterminate Lines'', 1994, weathered steel 1992 *

Léon-Ernest Drivier Léon-Ernest Drivier (22 October 1878, Grenoble – 8 January 1951, Paris), was a French illustrator and sculptor. Biography He entered the École des Beaux-Arts, then worked from 1907 in the studio of Auguste Rodin. He was a friend of the sculp ...

& Marcel Gimond – ''Cecilia'', treated antique bronze 1928 * George Rickey – ''Conversation'' (mobile sculpture Stainless Steel) 1991 * Gottfried Honegger – ''Monoform 26'', height 5 metres, painted metal 1988 *Morice Lipsi – ''The Great Wave'', stone 1978 * Eduardo Chillida – ''Zuhaitz'' (tree), weathered steel 1989 * Anthony Caro – ''The Song of the mountains'', which backs on to the old wall, 1993 * Richard Nonas – ''Transi West (for 36 Albanians ...)'', 1994 *

Eugene Dodeigne Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

– ''Couple'' Pierre de Soignies, 1993

A few works in the sculpture garden

Grenoble art 02.jpg, George Rickey, ''Conversation'' (1991)(mobile) Grenoble art 06.jpg, Eduardo Chillida, ''Shaft'' (1989) Grenoble art 05.jpg, Gottfried Honegger, ''Monoforme 26'' (1988)

The Library

The Library of Art History is open to the public with consultation on site. Books about the collection and the policy for purchasing works of art are the most important and heavily used by students. The Library is open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 2pm to 6pm. It is closed during summer.

Temporary exhibitions

In addition to space devoted to the presentation of permanent collections, some halls with an area of square metres are reserved for temporary exhibitions. Bassin d'eau - Musée de Grenoble

Each year, two major exhibitions are organized to help make the museum an important centre of French artistic life. At the exit to these rooms, a pool of water encourages visitors to take a break. In 2011 there was a record attendance for a temporary exhibition with visitors for the Chagall exhibition surpassing hugely the previous record of 98,000 visitors for the Impressionism of France and America exhibition of 2008. In 2019, the exhibition ''Serving the gods of Egypt'' attracts visitors, the second largest affluence in the history of the museum. * 1995: Rebecca Horn * 1998: The feeling of the mountain * 2000: Eustache Lesueur * 2005: Jean Achard, Laurent Guetal, Charles Bertier: three masters of the Dauphinois landscape in the 19th century * 2006:

Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...

Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

, Léger * 2007: Impressionism in France and America * 2008: Collection of African art, heritage revealed. * 2008:

Wolfgang Laib Wolfgang Laib (born 25 March 1950 in Metzingen, Germany) is a German artist, predominantly known as a sculptor. He lives and works in a small village in southern Germany, maintaining studios in New York City, New York and South India. His work has ...

''Without place, Without Time, Without Body'' * 2009: Henriette Deloras, Marc Pessin * 2009: Patrick Faigenbaum, Gerhard Richter, Alex Katz, Gregory Forstner, Duncan Wylie, Gaston Chaissac * 2010: ** 6 March to 30 May 2010:''In flesh and spirit – Italian drawings of 15th at 18th centuries'' **March 6 to May 30, 2010: ''Read Impressionism, six tables six masters'' ** July 3, 2010 to January 9, 2011: ''The General de Beylié, collector and patron'' ** October 30, 2010 to January 23, 2011: Stephan Balkenhol * 2011: 5 March to 13 June : Chagall and the Russian avant garde * 2012: French drawing of museum (XVIe au XVIIIe siècle) – The idea and the line – ''The White River'' – Die Brücke * 2013 :

* 2013 : Sigmar Polke * 2014 : La pointe et l'ombre, les dessins nordiques du musée de Grenoble 16th at 18th centuries * 2014 : Giuseppe Penone * 2015 : De Picasso à Warhol, une décennie d’enrichissement des collections du musée de Grenoble * 2015 : Georgia O'Keeffe et ses amis photographes * 2016 :

Cristina Iglesias Cristina Iglesias (born 1956) is a Spanish installation artist and sculptor living and working in Torrelodones, Madrid. She works with many materials, including steel, water, glass, bronze, bamboo, straw. On January 20, 2016 she was awarded the ...

* 2016 : Kandinsky – Les années parisiennes (1933–1944) * 2017 : Henri Fantin-Latour – À fleur de peau * 2017 : Daniel Dezeuze – une retrospective * 2018 : Drawings from Delacroix to Gauguin * 2018 : ''Servir les dieux d'Égypte'' (''Serving the gods of Egypt'') * 2019 : Souvenirs de voyage. Private collection of Antoine de Galbert * 2019 : ''

Picasso. In the heart of darkness (1939–1945) ''Picasso. In the heart of darkness (1939–1945)'' was an exhibition presented October 5, 2019 through January 5, 2020, at the Musee de Grenoble. Presented with the help of the Musée Picasso, the Centre Pompidou, and the Kunstsammlung Nordrhei ...

'' * 2020 : ''Grenoble and its artists in the 19th century'' * 2021 : '' Giorgio Morandi. The collection Magnani-Rocca'' * 2021 : ''

International trade

The Museum of Grenoble is part of the ''frame'' (''French Regional & American Museum Exchange''), one of whose missions is to promote the circulation and exchange of art between French and American museums.

References

Bibliography

* Joseph Roman
''History and description of library-museum'' of Grenoble
Editor Library Plon, Nourishes and Co. (1890 ?), Paris * Gabrielle Kueny, ''Grenoble, Museum of Fine Arts, Egyptian collection'', edition of the meeting of National Museums, Paris, 1979 () * ''Foundation of The Hermitage, Masterpieces of the Museum of Grenoble'', Library Arts, Lausanne, 1992 () * Serge Lemoine
''Museum of Grenoble''
Editions museums and monuments in France, Paris, 1988 () * Lucile Duc, Museum of Grenoble, un itinéraire de passion, Éditions Artes-Publialp, 1994, Grenoble * Catherine Chevillot
''Painting and sculpture of 19th century''
Réunion des musées nationaux, 1995 () * Serge Lemoine, ''A collection of Images on the 200th Anniversary of the Museum of Grenoble'', 1999 () * Jean Yves Aupetitallot and Jean Guibal, ''A museum without walls'', Edip, Dijon, 1999 () * Gilles Chomer,''French Paintings before 1815 – the collection at the Museum of Grenoble'', Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, 2000 () * Guy Tosatto,''The collections of the Museum of Grenoble'', Artly Publishing, 2004 * Laurick Zerbini, ''Collection of African Art at the Museum of Grenoble'', Grenoble Museum, 2008 () * Eric Pagliano with Catherine Monbeig-Goguel and Philippe Costamagna,''Flesh and spirit. Italian Drawings from the Museum of Grenoble'', Editions Somogy, 2010 () * Guillaume Kazerouni, with Barbara Brejon de Lavergnée and Jérôme Delaplanche, ''The idea and the line. French Drawings at the Museum of Grenoble 16th-18th century'', Éditions Somogy, 2011 ().