Art

Fabre Museum spreads its wings

Closed for two years, and undergoing renovation for the last four, the Fabre Museum in Montpellier has finally reopened to the delight of art enthusiasts everywhere. Almost 63 million Euros have been spent, doubling its size to 9,200 square metres, and enabling 800 works of art, half its entire collection, to be on permanent display.

 
Jacques-Louis David Portrait de Dr Alphonse Leroy 1783

Fabre has expanded from its original location, an 18th century mansion, into a Jesuit college, a library and finally by taking over part of the adjacent department block. More than 900 pictures and works of art have been cleaned or restored, making this one of the finest collections in France. 

 
Frédéric Bazille
Jeune femme aux pivoines 1870; La toilette 1869

The museum owes its origins to François-Xavier Fabre, who won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1760. His own paintings formed the beginnings of the collection, bequeathed to Montpellier on his death in 1837. New additions include a selection of pictures donated to the museum by the French painter Pierre Soulages, and outstanding works by Gustave Courbet, the 19th century realist, and impressionist Jean-Frédéric Bazille. The museum already owned paintings by Rubens, Veronese, Il Guercino, Poussin (‘Venus and Adonis’) and Delacroix (‘Fantasia’), and Dutch classics by Metsu, Steen and Teniers.

Frédéric Bazille Réunion de famille 1867 

The museum’s first special exhibition in four years, opening in June 2007, brings together a collection of impressionist paintings with an American connection. US collectors were among the earliest to appreciate Impressionist art, led by Mary Cassatt, who convinced family and friends to invest in their work towards the end of the 19th century. The Durant-Ruel gallery opened in 1886 with a special emphasis on Impressionist canvasses. Pissarro had a private gallery of modern French paintings at Mineapolis as early as 1889 and in 1897 he received the prestigious Carnegie International prize. Potter Palmer, a Chicago collector, was known to possess more than 100 works by Monet in 1900.

Gustave Courbet.
Self-portrait 1848; Bonjour Monsieur Courbet 1854

The Fabre Museum has late opening on Wednesdays until 9 p.m. and is open Tuesdays to Sundays inclusive.
Musée Fabre
39, boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle
34000 Montpellier
Tel.:04 67 14 83 00
Fax: 04 67 66 09 20.
E-mail: musee.fabre@montpellier-agglo.com
www.montpellier-agglo.fr

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres Antiochus et Stratonice 1866

     
Jean-Antoine Houdon Portrait de Voltaire 1781
Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun Grande Duchesse Elisabeth 1796

 
Frantisek Kupka Les disques de Newton 1911
Georges Braque Compotier et grappe de raisin et verre 1919

The museum reopened in 2008