The Musée des beaux-arts d'Angers is a museum of art located in a mansion, the "logis Barrault", place Saint-Éloi near the historic city of

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

, western France.

Building

The museum is part of the Toussaint complex, which includes the garden of Fine Arts, the David d'Angers gallery, the city library and the canteen. It displays a rich collection of art works acquired over the centuries on a total area of distributed as follows: * for permanent collections * for temporary exhibitions * for the public reception areas: lobbies, passing museums, auditorium, video room, coffee shop ... * for technical buildings Thanks to recent restoration the site combines history and development with the most modern presentation. The museum has been classified by the Journal des Arts Museum on 2010 as the best of western France and fourth museum in France (outside Paris). This ranking is due to a redesign of the museum's website and the richness and diversity of the exhibitions.

History

After the French Revolution, the Directory founded "Ecole Centrales" (central schools), and that of Maine-et-Loire was transferred to the Logis Barrault mansion. In May 1801, the museum of the Ecole Centrale de Maine-et-Loire opened its doors, modeled on the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

. In 1803, the Central Schools were closed, but the municipality of Angers decided to preserve the museum of painting. The natural history museum and municipal library opened in 1805. The museum is considered to be one of the richest in all the neighboring departments, and after that of Paris it would be one of the finest in France. In the two centuries that followed the museum came to have a critical lack of space and obsolete facilities, but this did not prevent the museum from receiving regular bequests and prestigious gifts, including those of Pierre-Jean David, called David d'Angers. In 1839 the David d'Angers Gallery was inaugurated in the former refectory of the museum (where it remained until 1984). In 1859, Lancelot-Théodore Turpin de Crissé enriched the museum's collection with a considerable legacy: Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiques, ancient bronzes, Greek vases, glasses, enamels and pottery, as well as many paintings including some by

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( ; ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...

(Paolo and Francesca) and some primitives including a triptych of the School of Avignon. He had built up a collection that reflected the eclectic tastes of the Restoration, with an estimated total value of nearly one million francs at the time. In 1861 the painter Guillaume Bodinier offered the city the hôtel Pincé - musée Pincé - to house the objects of the Turpin de Crissé collection. In 1887 the Beaurepaire gallery was inaugurated, built perpendicularly to the David d'Angers gallery and designed by city architect Charles Demoget. Works presented included ''The Dance'', a controversial sculpture by Charles Gumery, and ''The Death of Priam'' by

Pierre-Narcisse Guérin Pierre-Narcisse, baron Guérin (13 March 1774 – 6 July 1833) was a French painter, born in Paris. Biography A pupil of Jean-Baptiste Regnault, he carried off one of the three ''grands prix'' offered in 1796, in consequence of the competitio ...

. At the beginning of twentieth century expansion projects were initiated. A new public entrance appeared in order to make the museum more visible. But the project fails. In 1944 the museum is devastated by the war and was placed, two years later, on the list of classified provincial museums. From 1949 the museum was hastily reorganized, and reopened in 1950. The Conservators had to adapt to the constraints of the site without being able to really enhance the collections. In 1977 the City foresaw a redevelopment of the Museum of Fine Arts. In 1980 it was decided to first move the library, and then to transfer the David d'Angers gallery to the Church of All Saints Abbey of Angers. In 1984 François Mitterrand inaugurated the new David d'Angers gallery. In 1998 the City approved the scientific and cultural project presented by Patrick Nouëne, Director and Chief Curator of the Museums of Angers. Girodet La mort de Tatius

Between 1999 and 2004 massive renovations, transformation and enlargement were orchestrated by two famous architects: *Gabor Mester de Parajd, Chief Architect of Historic Monuments, had already completed several major projects in Maine-et-Loire, the Cathedral of St. Maurice d'Angers and the Abbey of Fontevraud. He took charge of the restoration of the heritage listed logis Barrault and the old parts, in the purest respect of architectural and historical references. "The Museum of Fine Arts is a jumble of styles and constructions. Our aim was to enhance the identity of every age and harmonize all the buildings. On the facades, we wanted to preserve the authentic rather than hiring a new restoration. Intramural, some tinkering done over the centuries led us to conduct historical studies and many soundings. We had to takeaccount of discoveries made at the site. For example, we replaced the vaulted loggia, one of the peculiarities of the house Barrault." * Antoine Stinco (museographer architect) who participated in the creation of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

and the National Gallery of Jeu de Paume in Paris. For the Museum of Fine Arts in Angers, he devoted himself to the renovation of the most recent additions, to create entirely new spaces. "My first goal was to stage a lively place that facilitates the discovery and fosters curiosity of audiences. I'm not trying to copy the past using the same architectural style. My mission was to create new spaces in relation to their function." In 2003 the city of Angers received, by bequest of its last owner and contributor, Mr. Daniel Duclaux, the Villevêque castle and the extensive collection of art objects it contains. Among this rich collection of over 900 works, hundreds of pieces of antique furniture, some sixty old books, manuscripts and incunabula, Italian ceramics and Hispano-Moorish enamels of Limousin, 70 works of art, sculptures in stone or polychrome wood from the Middle Ageas, tapestries from Flanders in the Renaissance period. The same year the Musée-Château de Villevêque was opened to the public, attached to the Angers Museum of Fine Arts.

Permanent collections

Gianciotto Discovers Paolo and Francesca Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

Works from many gifts, bequests, deposits or acquisitions are located in the historic rooms of the museum. 900 of them are exposed on the 1700 account as the Museum of Fine Arts. About 150 underwent fundamental restoration during construction. They are divided into two separate permanent tours:

The "fine art" tour

This tour presents a rich collection of paintings punctuated by artwork and sculptures that tells chronologically the different artistic movements from the fourteenth to the twenty first centuries. Two rooms on the first floor, restored by the Historic Buildings society, are devoted to 14th-century Primitives (French, Italian and Flemish) and objects of art from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, but also to Northern, French and Italian schools of the 16th and 17th centuries. These rooms hold works of

Segna di Bonaventura Segna di Bonaventura, also known as Segna de Bonaventura, and as Segna di Buonaventura, was an Italian painter of the Sienese School. He was active from about 1298 to 1331. In 1306 he painted a panel for the office of the Biccherna in the Pa ...

Benvenuto Tisi Benvenuto Tisi (; 1481September 6, 1559), also known as Il Garofalo (), was a Late-Renaissance-Mannerist Italian painter of the School of Ferrara. Garofalo's career began attached to the court of the Duke d'Este. His early works have been desc ...

, Jehan Bellegambe,

Jan Brueghel the Elder Jan Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Elder ( , ; ; 1568 – 13 January 1625) was a Flemish painting, Flemish painter and Draughtsmanship, draughtsman. He was the younger son of the eminent Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, Flemish ...

, Hendrick van Balen, Frans Franken,

Jacob Jordaens Jacques (Jacob) Jordaens (19 May 1593 – 18 October 1678Jacques Jordaens
in the Netherlands Institute for Ar ...

(Self Portrait), Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem,

Jan Asselijn Jan Asselijn ( 1610 – October 1, 1652) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Biography Asselijn was born at Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, Dieppe from a French Huguenot family as ''Jean Asselin''. He received instruction from Esaias van de Velde (158 ...

, Jan van Kessel, Willem van Mieris,

Jacob van Ruisdael Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael (; 1629 – 10 March 1682) was a Dutch painter, draughtsman, and etcher. He is generally considered the pre-eminent landscape painter of the Dutch Golden Age, a period of great wealth and cultural achie ...

, Theodoor van Thulden,

Jacob Foppens van Es Jacob Foppens van Es, Jacob Fopsen van Es or Jacob van Es (c. 1596 Antwerp – 1666 Antwerp) was a Southern Netherlands, Flemish Baroque painter known for his still lifes mainly of food and occasionally flower paintings. He collaborated with ...

, David Teniers the Younger,

Philippe de Champaigne Philippe de Champaigne (; 26 May 1602 – 12 August 1674) was a Duchy of Brabant, Brabant-born French people, French Baroque era painter, a major exponent of the French art, French school. He was a founding member of the Académie royale de pein ...

Charles Le Brun Charles Le Brun (; baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French Painting, painter, Physiognomy, physiognomist, Aesthetics, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. He served as a court painter to Louis XIV, ...

Charles de La Fosse Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning wa ...

, Jacques Stella,

Pierre Mignard Pierre Mignard or Pierre Mignard I (; 17 November 1612 – 30 May 1695), called "Mignard le Romain" to distinguish him from his brother Nicolas Mignard, was a French painter known for his religious and mythological scenes and portraits. He was a ...

, Antoine Coypel, Sisto Badalocchio, Pier Francesco Mola, Giovanni Battista Vanni,

Lorenzo Lippi Lorenzo Lippi (3 May 1606 – 15 April 1665) was an Italian Painting, painter and poet from Florence. Biography Born in Florence, he studied painting under Matteo Rosselli. Both Baldassare Franceschini and Francesco Furini were also apprent ...

(Allegory of the simulation),

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, Rome, Florence, and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain. Early l ...

Francesco Solimena Francesco Solimena (4 October 1657 – 3 April 1747) was a prolific Italian Baroque painter, one of an established family of painters and draughtsmen. Biography Francesco Solimena was born in Canale di Serino in the province of Avellino. H ...

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

and of Giambattista Tiepolo with his famous Apotheosis of the Pisani house, a sketch for the ceiling of the Villa Pisani at Stra in Veneto. On the second floor, visitors can discover the works of the eighteenth in the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI, and the large paintings of the early nineteenth century. For the eighteenth century French strong point of the museum collections, there are paintings of

Antoine Watteau Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised 10 October 1684died 18 July 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French Painting, painter and Drawing, draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour ...

, François Desportes, Carle Van Loo,

Jean-Honoré Fragonard Jean-Honoré Fragonard (; 5 April 1732 (birth/baptism certificate) – 22 August 1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific art ...

(two sketches, The Hunt and The Surprise, the paintings Cephalus and Procris, Jupiter, the guise of Diana, seduced Callisto, and Coresus Callirrhoe and another sketch, The Nymph lo and Jupiter),

François Boucher François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...

, Jean-Francois de Troy, Noel Halle,

Nicolas Lancret Nicolas Lancret (; 22 January 1690 – 14 September 1743) was a List of French artists, French painter. Born in Paris, he was a brilliant depicter of light comedy which reflected the tastes and manners of French society during the Régence, regen ...

Jean-Baptiste Pater Jean-Baptiste Pater (December 29, 1695 – July 25, 1736) was a French rococo painter. Born in Valenciennes, Pater was the son of sculptor Antoine Pater and studied under him before becoming a student of painter Jean-Baptiste Guide. Pater then m ...

, Jean-Baptiste Chardin with his masterful still lifes,

Jean-Baptiste Greuze Jean-Baptiste Greuze (, 21 August 1725 – 4 March 1805) was a French painter of portraits, genre scenes, and history painting. Early life Greuze was born at Tournus, a market town in Burgundy. He is generally said to have formed his own ...

, Hubert Robert, François-André Vincent,

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

and Joseph-Marie Vien. Among sculptures are the famous bust of Voltaire by Jean-Antoine Houdon. The first half of the nineteenth century is represented with works of

Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( ; ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...

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

, Ary Scheffer,

Eugène Devéria Eugène François Marie Joseph Devéria (22 April 1805, in Paris – 3 February 1865, in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Pau) was a French Romanticism, Romantic history painter, portraitist and muralist. Biography He was one of five children born ...

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (; 14 December 1824 – 24 October 1898) was a French painter known for his mural painting, who came to be known as "the painter for France". He became the co-founder and president of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Ar ...

and others. Upstairs, a large room is dedicated to modern art of the twentieth century and contemporary art, and on the ground floor the Gumery room has large canvases from the late nineteenth century and sculptures. These include works by

Henri Gervex Henri Gervex (10 December 1852 – 7 June 1929) was a French painter who studied painting under Alexandre Cabanel, Pierre-Nicolas Brisset, and Eugène Fromentin. Biography Early years He was the son of Joséphine Peltier and Félix Nicolas Gerve ...

and other large academic pictures of the nineteenth century. From the second half of the century it presents works of

Eugène Boudin Eugène Louis Boudin (; 12 July 1824 – 8 August 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, ...

, Johan Barthold Jongkind,

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

Alfred Sisley Alfred Sisley (; ; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedic ...

, Henri Lebasque and Albert Lebourg. From the twentieth century the museum includes

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, ...

, Maxime Maufra,

Louis Valtat Louis Valtat (; 8 August 1869 – 2 January 1952) was a French painter and printmaker associated with the Fauvism, Fauves ("the wild beasts", so named for their wild use of color), who first exhibited together in 1905 at the Salon d'Automne. ' ...

and Angevin Alexis Mérodack-Jeaneau, as well as contemporary works of

François Morellet François Morellet (30 April 1926 – 10 May 2016) was a French contemporary abstract painter, sculptor, and light artist. His early work prefigured minimal art and conceptual art and he played a prominent role in the development of geometrica ...

, Jean-Pierre Pincemin and Daniel Tremblay.

The "History of Angers" tour

A gallery of archaeological artifacts and works of decorative art has been created from the collections of the former Museum of Antiquities, excavations at Angers and acquisitions. It shows the development of the city of Angers from its origins to contemporary urban development projects. The old and new archaeological discoveries reveal the first traces of the site in the Neolithic and the creation of the Gallo-Roman city named Juliomagus. Fragments of stone and wood evoke the sculptural decoration of churches and wooden-walled houses. The social, economic and cultural importance is illustrated by an iconography: portraits, city views and photographs.

Exhibitions

Two or three temporary exhibitions are presented annually at the museum in the temporary exhibition hall, such as works of

Niki de Saint Phalle Niki de Saint Phalle (; born Catherine Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle; 29 October 193021 May 2002) was a French sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and author of colorful hand-illustrated books. Widely noted as one of the few female monumental sculp ...

in 2004 or

in 2006. Some exhibitions are now held in permanent collections, such as the 2008 exhibition of Agnès Thurnauer.

Past exhibitions

*Morellet 1926-2006 etc. ... Recent fantasies from June 25 to November 12, 2006 *Olivier Debré retrospective of 25 May 2007 to November 4, 2007 *"Dreams are Free" by Marie-Jo Lafontaine, 15 December 2007 to April 13, 2008 *Anthony Caro from May 24 to September 21, 2008 *Daniel Tremblay of 8 November 2008 to May 3, 2009 *Robert Malaval retrospective (1937–1980) June 13 to October 25, 2009 *Creating a portrait: Rodin and his models of 4 December 2009 to March 28, 2010 *Jean-Pierre Pincemin May 8, 2010 to September 19, 2010 *Loriot & Melia Vu-not-seen, 30 October 2010 to April 3, 2011

Gallery

Image:Beaux arts angers.jpg, Allée dans l'enceinte. Image:Beaux arts angers cathedrale.jpg, L'ancienne abbaye Toussaint. Image:Beaux arts angers tour.jpg, Le logis Barrault qui abrite le Musée des beaux-arts.

References

External links

Site officiel de la ville d'Angers

Site officiel des musées d'Angers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Musee des Beaux-Arts d'Angers Museums in Maine-et-Loire Buildings and structures in Angers Buildings and structures completed in 1493 Houses completed in the 15th century 1801 establishments in France Art museums and galleries in France