Musée des beaux-arts de Brest Nuit des musées (1)

The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Brest is the main art

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

in the city of

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Brest, ...

, Brittany, France, housing French and Italian old masters as well as more modern art. It and most of the city were destroyed by Allied bombing during the Second World War and the building and its collections both had to be recreated in the post-war period,making it what one author has called "the largest collection f old mastersto have been formed in France since 1945". The museum building was completed in 1968 and is typical of Brest's functional post-war architecture.

History

From "granary of abundance"...

... to multipurpose space

Creation of the musée des Beaux-Arts de Brest

Beginnings

Expansion

Destruction

On 20 September 1938 the director general of fine arts at the ministry of national education in Paris invited curator Jean Lachaud to produce a list of artworks to be protected in case of war. From September 1939 the Danguillecourt and Rodellec du Portzic collections and some other precious works, altogether totalling 95 works, were evacuated by the city council to the château de Penmarch near

Lesneven Lesneven (; br, Lesneven) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It lies northeast of Brest, about from the English Channel in the middle of the Leon plateau. History Lesneven has its origins in the immi ...

, a building owned by the city of Brest. As the war got closer, the decision was taken to move the 27 crates at Penmarch by train to the château du Plessis-Macé near

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

, then to the château de la Lorie. There were also plans to evacuate the rest of the works in the collection. The artworks were unframed, rolled and crated but a lack of manpower and transport prevented their being moved and some of them were damaged in a three hour bombing raid on 31 March 1941 against three German heavy cruisers then in harbour at Brest. Full evacuation of the museum was planned for 9 July the same year but on the night of 4–5 July another British raid against the cruisers completely destroyed the museum. The rubble was pillaged, leading to the "Dépêche de Brest" on 12 July demanding that the city's inhabitants return objects stolen from the museum's ruins. Only a few objects such as counters, iron weapons and bronze cannon were recovered as the rubble was cleared. The city library moved to the ground floor of the école professionnelle des filles on rue Danton before moving into two classrooms at the école maternelle Bugeaud. Destruction de la Halle aux blés de Brest - 07.jpg Destruction de la Halle aux blés de Brest - 05.jpg 2Fi06994 Destruction de la Halle aux blés de Brest.jpg 2Fi13244 Destruction de la Halle aux blés de Brest.jpg 2Fi05101 Destruction de la Halle aux blés de Brest.jpg 2Fi13243 Destruction de la Halle aux blés de Brest.jpg Destruction de la Halle aux blés de Brest - 09.jpg 2Fi02554 Destruction de la Halle aux blés de Brest.jpg 2Fi02666 Destruction de la Halle aux blés de Brest.jpg Destruction de la Halle aux blés de Brest - 04.jpg 2Fi02668 Destruction de la Halle aux blés de Brest.jpg

Reconstruction

Collections

The collection was built up in stages, with the first catalogue (written by curator Henri Hombron in 1892) encompassing 228 paintings, 291 engravings and drawings and 38 sculptures.

16th-18th centuries

* Italy -

Jacopo Bassano Jacopo Bassano (c. 1510 – 14 February 1592), known also as Jacopo dal Ponte, was an Italian painter who was born and died in Bassano del Grappa near Venice, and took the village as his surname. Trained in the workshop of his father, Francesco t ...

Palma il Giovane 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 ...

Carlo Saraceni Carlo Saraceni (1579 – 16 June 1620) was an Italian early-Baroque painter, whose reputation as a "first-class painter of the second rank" was improved with the publication of a modern monograph in 1968. Life Though he was born and died in ...

Guercino Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as Guercino, or il Guercino , was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vig ...

Carlo Dolci Carlo (or Carlino) Dolci (25 May 1616 – 17 January 1686) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Florence, known for highly finished religious pictures, often repeated in many versions. Biography He was born in Florence, ...

Daniele Crespi Daniele Crespi (159819 July 1630) was an Italian painter and draughtsman. He is regarded as one of the most original artists working in Milan in the 1620s. He broke away from the exaggerated manner of Lombard Mannerism in favour of an early Bar ...

Giuseppe Recco __NOTOC__ Giuseppe Recco (1634 – 29 May 1695) was an Italian painter in the Baroque style. He specialized in a variety of still lifes. Career Born in Naples, he likely apprenticed with his family, including his father Giacomo Recco and u ...

Giuseppe Cesari Giuseppe Cesari (14 February 1568 – 3 July 1640) was an Italian Mannerist painter, also named Il Giuseppino and called ''Cavaliere d'Arpino'', because he was created ''Cavaliere di Cristo'' by his patron Pope Clement VIII. He was much patronize ...

Pietro della Vecchia Pietro della Vecchia, Pietro della Vècchia or Pietro Vècchia, formerly incorrectly called Pietro MuttoniBernard Aikema. "Vecchia, Pietro della."Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 5 March 2018 (Vicenza, 1603 &nda ...

Jacopo Vignali Jacopo Vignali (September 5, 1592 – August 3, 1664) was an Italian painter of the early Baroque period. Biography Vignali was born in Pratovecchio, near Arezzo, and initially trained under Matteo Rosselli. He painted the ceiling fresco of the ' ...

Luca Giordano Luca Giordano (18 October 1634 – 3 January 1705) was an Italian late-Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples and Rome, Florence, and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain. Ear ...

(''Saint Luke Painting the Virgin''),

Canaletto Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school. Painter of city views or ...

and

Pompeo Batoni Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (25 January 1708 – 4 February 1787) was an Italian painter who displayed a solid technical knowledge in his portrait work and in his numerous allegorical and mythological pictures. The high number of foreign visitors tra ...

. * France - Charles Antoine Coypel,

Jacques Courtois Jacques Courtois or Giacomo Cortese, called il Borgognone or le Bourguignon (12 ?December 162114 November 1676) was a Franche-Comtois–Italian painter, draughtsman, and etcher. He was mainly active in Rome and Florence and became known as the ...

Charles de La Fosse Charles de La Fosse (or Lafosse; 15 June 1636 – 13 December 1716) was a French painter born in Paris. Life He was one of the most noted and least servile pupils of Le Brun, under whose direction he shared in the chief of the great decorativ ...

Louis-Nicolas Van Blarenberghe Van Blarenberghe was the name of a dynasty of painters, originally from French Flanders (Lille), but some of the most famous descendants also lived in Paris, France. They were all descendants from Joris van Blarenberghe (1612–1670). The first tw ...

Charles-Joseph Natoire Charles-Joseph Natoire (3 March 1700 – 23 August 1777) was a French painter in the Rococo manner, a pupil of François Lemoyne and director of the French Academy in Rome, 1751–1775. Considered during his lifetime the equal of François Bouc ...

Jean-François de Troy Jean-François de Troy (27 January 1679, Paris – 26 January 1752, Rome) was a French Rococo easel and fresco painter, draughtsman and tapestry designer. One of France's leading history painters in his time, he was equally successful with his de ...

Sébastien Bourdon Sébastien Bourdon (2 February 1616 – 8 May 1671) was a French painter and engraver. His ''chef d'œuvre'' is ''The Crucifixion of St. Peter'' made for the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, Notre Dame. Biography Bourdon was born i ...

, Henry d'Arles,

Jean-Laurent Mosnier Jean-Laurent Mosnier (; (Paris) 1743 – (Saint Petersburg) 10 April 1808) was a French painter and miniaturist. Court painter under the Ancien Régime, Mosnier began, from 1789, a brilliant career as society painter in London, Hamburg and St. ...

, François-Édouard Cibot,

Auguste Couder Louis-Charles-Auguste Couder or Auguste Couder (1 April 1789, in London – 21 July 1873, in Paris) was a French painter and student of Jean-Baptiste Regnault and Jacques-Louis David. He joined the Académie des beaux-arts in 1839 and was an off ...

Jean-Baptiste Regnault Jean-Baptiste Regnault (9 October 1754 – 12 November 1829) was a French painter. Biography Regnault was born in Paris, and began life at sea in a merchant vessel. At the age of fifteen his talent attracted attention, and he was sent to I ...

and

Carle van Loo Carle or Carlé is a surname. Notable people with the name include: *Andrea Cosima Carle, whose stage name is Maggie Mae (1960 – 2021), German singer *Barbara Carle (born 1958), French-American poet, critic, translator and Italianist *David Car ...

. * Flanders, Netherlands, Germany -

Bonaventura Peeters Bonaventura Peeters (I) or Bonaventura Peeters the Elder (23 July 1614 – 25 July 1652) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and etcher. He became one of the leading marine artists in the Low Countries in the first half of the 17th century wi ...

Bartholomeus Breenbergh Bartholomeus Breenbergh (before 13 November 1598 – after 3 October 1657) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of Italian and Italianate landscapes, in Rome (1619-1630) and Amsterdam (1630-1657). Biography Little is known of his early life. In his ...

Herman van Swanevelt Herman van Swanevelt (1603 – 1655) was a Dutch people, Dutch painter and etcher from the Baroque painting, Baroque era. Life Herman was born in Woerden to a family of thriving artisans whose ancestors included the famous painter Lucas van ...

Jan Weenix Jan Weenix or Joannis Wenix (between 1641/164919 September 1719 (buried)) was a Dutch painter. He was trained by his father, Jan Baptist Weenix, together with his cousin Melchior d'Hondecoeter. Like his father, he painted various subjects, but ...

Leonard Bramer Leonaert Bramer, also Leendert or Leonard (24 December 1596 – before 10 February 1674 (date of burial)),Leonaert Bramer< ...

and

Angelica Kauffmann Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann ( ; 30 October 1741 – 5 November 1807), usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered primarily as a history painter, K ...

19th century to present

This period in the collections is dominated by French work, including Romantics, Academics, Post-Impressionists, Symbolists and Surrealists and artists such as

Eugène Isabey Eugène Louis Gabriel Isabey (22 July 1803, in Paris – 25 April 1886, in Montévrain) was a French painter, lithographer and watercolorist in the Romantic style. Biography He was born to Jean-Baptiste Isabey, a well known painter who ...

Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps (March 3, 1803August 22, 1860) was a French painter noted for his Orientalist works. Life Decamps was born in Paris. In his youth he travelled in the East, and reproduced Oriental life and scenery with a bold fidelity to ...

Eugène Fromentin Eugène Fromentin (24 October 182027 August 1876) was a French painter and writer, now better remembered for his writings. Life He was born in La Rochelle. After leaving school he studied for some years under Louis Cabat, the landscape painter. ...

Suzanne Valadon Suzanne Valadon (23 September 18657 April 1938) was a French painter who was born Marie-Clémentine Valadon at Bessines-sur-Gartempe, Haute-Vienne, France. In 1894, Valadon became the first woman painter admitted to the Société Nationale des B ...

Maurice Utrillo Maurice Utrillo (), born Maurice Valadon; 26 December 1883 – 5 November 1955), was a French painter of the School of Paris who specialized in cityscapes. Born in the Montmartre quarter of Paris, France, Utrillo is one of the few famous painte ...

and Maurice Asselin. There is a major focus on Brest's history, seascapes and Breton painters such as Jean-Jacques Morvan. The "salle

Charles Estienne Charles Estienne (; 1504–1564), known as Carolus Stephanus in Latin and Charles Stephens in English, was an early exponent of the science of anatomy in France. Charles was a younger brother of Robert Estienne I, the famous printer, and son to ...

" displays artists close to

lyrical abstraction Lyrical abstraction is either of two related but distinct trends in Post-war Modernist painting: ''European Abstraction Lyrique'' born in Paris, the French art critic Jean José Marchand being credited with coining its name in 1947, considered ...

geometric abstraction Geometric abstraction is a form of abstract art based on the use of geometric forms sometimes, though not always, placed in non-illusionistic space and combined into non-objective (non-representational) compositions. Although the genre was popu ...

and

Art Brut Art Brut are a Berlin-based English and German indie rock band. Their debut album, '' Bang Bang Rock & Roll'', was released on 30 May 2005, with its follow up, ''It's a Bit Complicated'', released on 25 June 2007. Named after French painter Je ...

such as

Yves Tanguy Raymond Georges Yves Tanguy (January 5, 1900 – January 15, 1955), known as just Yves Tanguy (, ), was a French surrealist painter. Biography Tanguy, the son of a retired navy captain, was born January 5, 1900, at the Ministry of Naval Affa ...

, Marcelle Loubchansky, Jean Degottex,

Jean Deyrolle Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...

, René Duvillier, Jan Krizek and François Dilasser. Also represented are the

Pont-Aven School Pont-Aven School (french: École de Pont-Aven, br, Skol Pont Aven) encompasses works of art influenced by the Breton town of Pont-Aven and its surroundings. Originally the term applied to works created in the artists' colony at Pont-Aven, which s ...

and

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 ...

(

Henri-Gabriel Ibels Henri-Gabriel Ibels (30 November 1867 – February 1936) was a French illustrator, printmaker, painter and author. Biography He was born in Paris and studied at the Académie Julian with Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard. He was a mem ...

, Henri Delavallée, Claude-Émile Schuffenecker,

Henry Moret Henry Moret (12 December 1856 – 5 May 1913) was a French Impressionist painter. He was one of the artists who associated with Paul Gauguin at Pont-Aven in Brittany. He is best known for his involvement in the Pont-Aven artist colony and his ric ...

Armand Seguin Armand refer to: People * Armand (name), list of people with this name *Armand (photographer) (1901–1963), Armenian photographer *Armand (singer) (1946–2015), Dutch protest singer *Sean Armand (born 1991), American basketball player *Armand, ...

Émile Bernard Émile Henri Bernard (28 April 1868 – 16 April 1941) was a French Post-Impressionist painter and writer, who had artistic friendships with Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Eugène Boch, and at a later time, Paul Cézanne. Most of his nota ...

Maxime Maufra Maxime Maufra (17 May 1861 – 23 May 1918) was a French landscape and marine painter, etcher and lithographer. Life Maufra first began painting at 18. He was encouraged to do so by two artists from Nantes such as the brothers Charles Ledu ...

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Born ...

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 ...

, Georges Lacombe,

Paul Sérusier Paul Sérusier (9 November 1864 – 7 October 1927) was a French painter who was a pioneer of abstract art and an inspiration for the avant-garde Nabis movement, Synthetism and Cloisonnism. Education Sérusier was born in Paris. He studied a ...

Maurice Denis Maurice Denis (; 25 November 1870 – 13 November 1943) was a French painter, decorative artist, and writer. An important figure in the transitional period between impressionism and modern art, he is associated with '' Les Nabis'', symbolism, a ...

Julie Delance-Feurgard Julie Delance-Feurgard (November 8, 1859 – January 11, 1892) was a French painter. She was known for her landscapes and genre paintings. Biography Delance-Feurgard was born on 8 November 1859 in Paris, France. She attended the Académie Julian. ...

, Albert Clouard and Jean-Julien Lemordant),

Orientalists In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...

such as

Paul Leroy Peter John Kay (born 2 July 1973) is an English actor, comedy writer and stand-up comedian. He has written, produced and acted in several television and film projects, and has written three books. Born and brought up in Bolton, Kay studied ...

, Charles de Tournemine and

Anna Quinquaud Anna Fanny Marguerite Quinquaud (1890–1984) was a French explorer and award-winning sculptor. From 1925, she travelled to the French-speaking countries of East Africa where she created numerous sculptures and water colours inspired by her impre ...

and

Symbolists Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

such as

Edgar Maxence Edgard Maxence (; 17 September 1871 – 31 July 1954) was a French Symbolist painter. Life He was taught by Elie Delaunay and Gustave Moreau at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He is a contemporary of Henri Evenepoel, Jules Flandrin J ...

, Henri Martin,

Alexandre Séon Alexandre Séon (1855, Chazelles-sur-Lyon, Loire – 1917, Paris) was a French Symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically t ...

Eugène Carrière Eugène Anatole Carrière (16 January 1849 – 27 March 1906) was a French Symbolist artist of the fin-de-siècle period. Carrière's paintings are best known for their near-monochrome brown palette and their ethereal, dreamlike quality. He ...

, Lucien Levy-Dhurmer,

René Ménard René Ménard (2 March 1605 – 4 July 1661?) was a French Jesuit missionary explorer who traveled to New France in 1641, learned the language of the Wyandot, and was soon in charge of many of the satellite missions around Sainte-Marie among the ...

, Charles-Marie Dulac and

Léon Spilliaert Léon Spilliaert (also Leon Spilliaert; 28 July 1881 – 23 November 1946) was a Belgian symbolist painter and graphic artist. Biography Spilliaert was born in Ostend, the oldest of seven children of Léonard-Hubert Spilliaert, a perfum ...

Gallery

Vue du port de Brest prise depuis la terrasse des Capucins 1774.jpg,

, ''The Port of Brest from the Terrasse des Capucins'' Venise la place Saint-Marc-Le Canaletto mg 8212.jpg,

, ''Venice, Piazza San Marco'' NoelBrest.jpg, Jules Noël, ''Port of Brest'' Constantinople la mosquée de Top-Kahné-Ivan Aivazovski mg 8270.jpg,

Ivan Aivazovsky Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (russian: link=no, Иван Константинович Айвазовский; 29 July 18172 May 1900) was a Russian Romantic painter who is considered one of the greatest masters of marine art. Baptized a ...

, ''Constantinople, Nusretiye Mosque'' La mer jaune (Georges Lacombe).jpg, Georges Lacombe, ''Yellow Sea, Camaret'' 942 Maurice Denis Soir de septembre.jpg,

, ''September Evening''

References

Bibliography

* , « La société académique de Brest et la naissance du premier musée », Les Cahiers de l'Iroise, no 226, avril-juin 2017, p. 52-68
online

External links (in French)

* Modélisation 3D de l'extérieur de la halle aux blés qui comprenait le premier musée su
Wiki-Brest
par Mylène et Daniel Larvor.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musee Beaux-Arts Brest Museums in Finistère Art museums and galleries in France Museums established in 1875 Brest, France