The Musée Fabre (French: [myze fabʁ]; Fabre Museum) is a museum in the southern French city of Montpellier, capital of the Hérault department.
The museum was founded by François-Xavier Fabre, a Montpellier painter, in 1825. Beginning in 2003, the museum underwent a 61.2 million euro renovation, which was completed in January 2007. It is one of the main sights of Montpellier and close to the city's main square, the Place de la Comédie. The museum's national importance is recognised by it being classified as a Musée de France by the Ministry of Culture.
Contents
History
The town of Montpellier was given thirty paintings in 1802 which formed the basis of a modest municipal museum under the Empire, moving between various temporary sites. In 1825, the town council accepted a large donation of works from François-Xavier Fabre and the museum was installed in the refurbished Hôtel de Massillian, officially opened on 3 December 1828. Fabre's generosity led others to follow his example, notably Antoine Valedau who donated his collection of Dutch and Flemish masters to the city. On the death of Fabre (Baron since 1828) in 1837, a legacy of more than a hundred pictures and drawings completed the collection.
In 1864, Jules Bonnet-Mel, an art collector from Pézenas, bequeathed 400 drawings and 28 paintings. In 1868, Alfred Bruyas gave the works from his private gallery to the city. He is credited with having moved the museum collection into the modern era. In 1870, Jules Canonge, from Nîmes, gave a collection of more than 350 drawings. A legacy of Bruyas of more than 200 works completed his gift in 1877.
In 1968 the hotel Cabrières-Sabatier d’Espeyran was donated to the city, along with its contents. The structure had been built under the Third Republic. Around 2001, the Library moved out of the complex, freeing a sizeable area and offering the chance to carry out a major modernisation and enhancement of the building. This took four years and included a whole new wing. The building re-opened in February 2007.
Collection
The extensive exhibition space allows Musée Fabre to display 800 paintings, 900 engravings, and 3,500 drawings. On display are also ceramics from Greece and the rest of Europe. Furthermore, the museum has a large collection of paintings from the 17th until the 19th century, with a large representation of the luminophiles movement. There is also sculpture.
Painting from 15th to 18th century
Some of the well-known painters featured in the museum:
French :
Jacques-Louis David 5 paintings including Hector, Portrait of Doctor Alphonse Leroy
Alexandre Cabanel
Sébastien Bourdon
Jean-Honoré Fragonard (The Palette Game and The See-Saw, both on loan from the Louvre)
Nicolas Poussin (Venus and Adonis)
Simon Vouet
Gaspard Dughet
Charles Le Brun
Nicolas de Largillière
Hyacinthe Rigaud
Jean-Baptiste Oudry
Carle Van Loo
Claude Joseph Vernet
Jean-Baptiste Greuze : 9 paintings including Le Petit Paresseux, Twelfth Night Cake
Hubert Robert
Outside France :
Italy :
Jacopo Bassano
Paolo Veronese
Annibale Carracci
Alessandro Allori : 3 paintings including Venus and Cupid
Painting from the 19th and 20th century, with a number of Fauvist painters
Frédéric Bazille (Vue de village, Aigues-Mortes, La Toilette, Atelier de la rue Furstenberg)
François-Léon Benouville (The Wrath of Achilles)
Gustave Courbet 15 paintings including The Bathers or Les Baigneuses, Bonjour Monsieur Courbet
Eugène Delacroix (Fantasia, Algerian women in their room)
Kees van Dongen (Portrait of Fernande Olivier)
Raoul Dufy
Jean Hugo
Albert Marquet
Pierre Soulages
Nicolas de Staël
Claude Viallat
Maria Helena Vieira da Silva
Sculpture
Antoine Bourdelle
Jean-Antoine Houdon (Summer, Winter)
René Iché
Aristide Maillol
Germaine Richier