Museum of Luxembourg

Since the year 2000, the Musée of Luxembourg is a cultural institution placed under the supervision of the Sénat French; it is located at Paris, in built wing a perpendicular to the Orangery of Luxembourg, street of Vaugirard. Its current vocation is to present artistic sets of themes and original exposures periodically.

But the history of the Museum of Luxembourg goes up with 1750: it was, before being the first Musée of Contemporary art in Europe, the first museum of art open to the public in France.

History of the museums of Luxembourg

The Museum of Luxembourg and old art

The first Museum of Luxembourg: 1750-1780

Luxembourg was the first district of Paris to count a public gallery of painting and this almost fifty years before the creation of the Natural history museum of Louvre. Opened on October 14th, 1750, with the site even of the gallery of Marie de Médicis, in the wing Is Palais of Luxembourg, the royal gallery of painting of the Palate of Luxembourg had very early attracted the foreign visitors, as well by the richness as by the diversity of the collections. The creation of such a gallery had to be lived like a royal privilege conferred on the district. It also constitutes a stake essential of the progressive socialization of the deprived buildings at the XVIIIe century.

The paternity of the project of public gallery is generally allotted to Mr. de Tournehem, director of the Building industries of the King: “The collection of the tables of Roy is assembled now to 1,800 pieces as well of the foreign Masters as of those of our school. From this number, Mr. de Tournehem comes from there to make expose 96. We take place to at least hope for that it will make us successively review them, those which can be easily transported. ” (Laran J., “the exposure of the tables of the king to Luxembourg in 1750. New description of the Gougenot abbot”, Bulletin of the Company of History of French Art , 1909, pp. 154-202).

Among the works exposed in the gallery east appeared: the Holy Family by Léonard de Vinci, the Virgin with the rabbit by Titien, of the Raphaël, the Véronèse, the Rembrandt, the Chick, the Van Dyck, as well as works of Claude Gellée says the Lorraine one, etc In the parallel gallery, in the west, were exposed the series of biographical fabrics ordered by Marie de Médicis with Rubens, now exposed to the Musée of Louvre.

It is the Count of Provence, future Louis XVIII, which made close the gallery in 1780: it since 1760 had started to store its files in the Palais of Luxembourg, which it accepted in complement of prerogative in 1778. The administration of the Crown took again the tables as well as the whole of fabrics of Rubens, and deposited them with the Louvre in 1790.

The second Museum of Luxembourg: 1803-1815

In 1803, the gallery, closed since 1780, had reopened under the impulse of Joseph-Marie Vien, senator and painter in sight: had it acted separately or in the name of the Sénat? The fact is that in 1802 it is the Senate which had financed, with 4.500 francs height of the time, the purchase of the series of fabrics of Jacob Jordaens entitled the Signs of the Zodiaque, with an aim of decorating the ceiling of the gallery of it is Palais of Luxembourg.

It is the painter Jean Naigeon who was named preserving of this second picture gallery, in January 1803. The New museum was inaugurated on June 26th, 1803. The Rubens had found their site of origin, and the collection was supplemented by other masterpieces (Nicolas Poussin, Simon Vouet, Jacques Louis David…), as well as series of the Saint-Bruno by Eustace Sweat.

The Museum then began its expansion in the Palate, by annexing three rooms in the western wing, following the Rubens gallery, on the side of the street of Vaugirard. They accommodated, until approximately 1820, the series of the Wearing of France by Claude Joseph Vernet, then other fabrics by Rubens and Eustace Sweat.

Following the restitution of works resulting from Napoleonean plunderings of war, most of the fabrics constituting the Museum of Luxembourg was transferred to the Musée from Louvre for, oneself saying, to fill the gaps left by these restitutions: “The immense gaps that the continuation of the events of 1815 swage left in splendid Galerie of Louvre, determined the government to make there again transport the tables of Rubens, Lesueur and Vernet, which décoroient that of the Palate of the Pars. ” (Grivaud of Vincelle C. - Mr., Note on the Palate of the Room of the Pars of France in the past called Palate of Luxembourg or of Orleans , Paris, Nepveu, 1820).

One can wonder about the utility of such a transfer: indeed, as Horsin-Déon in 1849 underlined it: “Louvre, though widower of all these masterpieces, did not remain about it less the most complete Museum and richest of the world. ” (Horsin-Déon, Of the Organization of the National museums , Paris, Bonaventure and Ducessois, 1849). That was valid as well for paintings as for the sculptures. Indeed, the Museum of Louvre the possibility had had of on the spot repurchasing certain works restored with their owners who wished, despite everything, to demolish itself some. The losses were not as important as one had agreed to make it believe, as acknowledged it Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine in his Journal : “We received order at the same time to complete and also arrange the museum of sculpture which in spite of many removals from abroad will be still after that of the richest Vatican of Europe” (Fountain P.F.L., Journal 1799-1853 , Paris, ENSBA/IFA/Société main road of the Art schools, 1987, T. 1, pp. 527-528).

One cannot continue any more to believe that few tens of fabrics taken on the collections of the gallery of Luxembourg and the Gallery of the French School of Versailles would have been enough to compensate for the 5.233 works restored by the Natural history museum of Louvre. Can one be satisfied to accept the myth of the communicating vases, such as it was relayed by the writers of notes of the Museum? Actually, it appears more judicious to us to speak about an exaggeration of the losses for, on the one hand, turning into to governments bordering the torturers on one of the national prides and, on the other hand, preparing the ground for the resurrection of the myth of the friendly monarch of arts.

The Museum of the alive artists: 1818-1937

Art living with the Palate of Luxembourg: 1818-1885

The April 11th 1818 opened, in the galleries of the Palate of Luxembourg , the " Museum of the artists vivants" who exposed, inter alia, of works of David (1748-1825), of Gros (1751-1835), of Girodet (1767-1824), of Ingres (1780-1867) and of Delacroix (1798-1863).

Art living with the Orangery of Luxembourg: 1886-1937

The Museum of Luxembourg and the art of the French areas: 1979-2000

The Museum of Luxembourg today

External bonds

Official site of the Museum of Luxembourg

Historical file on the site of the Senate

References

For a first approach:

Palate of Luxembourg. History of the gallery Is (today Annexe of the Library of the Senate) , plate published by the Senate

Kazerouni G., “Museum of Luxembourg”, in Andia B. (to dir.), Parisian Museums, history, architecture and decoration , Paris, Artistic action of the Town of Paris, 2004, pp. 213-214

Lacambre G., the Museum of Luxembourg in 1874, paintings , Paris, NMR, 1974

to deepen:

Alary L., “alive art before the modern art. The Museum of Luxembourg, first test of museography for l'" art vivant" in France”, Re-examined modern history and contemporary , T. 42- April 2nd, th and th - June 1995, pp. 219-239

Bastoen J., the State with the catches with modernity. The Museum of the alive artists, laboratory of architectural and museographic experimentation. Palate of Luxembourg to the Palate of Tokyo, 1818-1937 , memory of DEA “the architectural and urban Project”, to dir. Pierre Pinon and Jean-Louis Cohen, University Paris VIII, 2004

Delesalle H., “Some sights of the Old Museum of Luxembourg”, in Gazette of the Art schools , April 1961, pp. 237-248

Lacambre G., “the Museum of Luxembourg under the Second Republic”, in Georgel C. (to dir.), 1848, the Republic and alive art , Paris, Beech/NMR, 1998, pp. 148-163

Ladoué P., “the French Museum of the alive artists”, in Gazette of the Art schools , Sept. 1948, pp. 193-208

Ladoué P., “Museum of Luxembourg: the " New musée" from 1886”, in Bulletin of the Museums of France n°10 (Dec. 1936), pp. 184-189

old Monographs:

Camille Mauclair, the Museum of Luxembourg , Paris, Nilsson, 1933, coll Museums of Europe

Eugene de Montrosier (ED.), Masterpieces of the art of Luxembourg , Paris, Baschet, 1881

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