“A museum must be a polyphony!” », The time of the Renaissance at the Bonnat-Helleu museum in Bayonne

Years and years of silence, cranes, works, hazards, and then, suddenly, the Renaissance! However, In November. Nevertheless, the Bonnat-Helleu Museum in Bayonne will reopen to the public, unveil its gigantic restoration and reveal all its sleeping treasures since 2011. Furthermore, The time had made us forget that. However, in this district of Petit-Bayonne, at the confluence of Nive and Adour, is a collection of paintings and drawings among the most wonderful in France.

It is here. Meanwhile, on this Basque Earth away from the museums of large metropolises, that works from Greeco, Rubens, Goya, Murillo, Van Dyck, Ingres, Tiepolo, Raphaël or Léonardo da “a museum must polyphony!” », Vinci arrived. Furthermore, A miracle that we owe to the donation of the painter. Therefore, collector Léon Bonnat at the beginning of the XX^e century and the more recent legacies of Paulette Howard-Johnston, daughter of artist Paul Helleu, as well as to the art dealer Jacques Petithory. In addition, We therefore understand why Laurence des Cars. Furthermore, director of the Louvre, recently said that the reopening of Bonnat-Helleu would be a major event for all art lovers in the world.

The child prodigy – "a museum must polyphony!" »,

In total, we will present 1,300 pieces out of the 7,000 in the museum. Moreover, They will be regularly renewed

This spring. Therefore, the building is still set with palisades and construction noises dominate, but the curtain is gradually rising. In addition, Barthélemy Etchegoyen Glama gave us an appointment for a backstage visit. Consequently, Aged 32, from a family from Saint-Palais, the “a museum must polyphony!” », new curator tamed the premises in a flash. Similarly, Graduated from rue d’Ulm. Meanwhile, feather by Jean-Yves Le Drian, teacher in history and art history at the University of Columbia, in New York, and, finally, advisor to Laurence des Cars, he returns home in child prodigy.

“What excuses me here?” This is the prospect of making everyone accessible to all a double beauty: this setting. However, these immense treasures whose value is no longer measured after so many years of sleep. Everyone who will come to the Bonnat-Helleu museum will experience a real shock with the history of art! »»

Let’s enter the table reserve immediately. a room like a cathedral, bristling with a multitude of mobile metal panels. On both sides, 1,200 paintings are hung in a tangle of pastoral scenes, still lifes, portraits. Many are waiting to get out of oblivion. Some have continued their lives in the ramps.

“Oh Baby, “a museum must polyphony!” », Baby, It’s a Wild World …”. Cat Stevens’ tube resonates in the room. Jumped on a ladder. Emma Delgado, steer of works of art, and Hugo Riche, in charge of logistics, make a final beauty in the monumental painting of the “Comtesse Potocka”, signed Léon Bonnat. All of black. white dressed, the haughty port, the magnetic gaze, the impetuous aristocrat, muse of Maupassant, is preparing to cross the Atlantic in the company of the “Portrait of Thomas Alexandre Dumas as a hunter”, by Louis Gauffier. Closely monitored throughout the trip by Hélène Ferron. the heritage curator, they are expected for two temporary exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The beautiful will return to Bayonne in August. Additionally, the Bonaparte Métis General will return in October, in time for the opening.

"a museum must polyphony!" », – "a museum must polyphony!" »,

The countdown

Even dormant, the museum has never stopped living through loans in “a museum must polyphony!” », the greatest museums in the world. He also took advantage of this time to launch an important campaign to restore his works. But the time is now in the countdown. “The pressure rises, everything accelerates,” admits Emma Delgado. From this summer, we will have three months to hang everything. This moment will be both stressful and moving. “Barthélemy Etchegoyen Glama abounds:” In total, we will present 1,300 pieces out of the 7,000 in the museum. They will be regularly renewed. At this point. we imagine that a painting, a sculpture, will benefit here rather than there from good lighting and the dynamics of the route. But we will undoubtedly be surprised at the time of installation. A museum must be a polyphony! »»

There is no doubt that his favorites will find a place there. Here is “the virgin adored the host” of Ingres. her sweet orientalist notes, the dark and “a museum must polyphony!” », disturbing “desperate woman stopping the hair” by Jusepe de Ribera, the moving duo of “The Virgin and Christ of Rieux” ???two Gothic sculptures. and then, of course, the self -portrait of Goya with glasses, a Goya who sends us a worried and dark look.

Michelangelo. Léonardo da Vinci

And there are these jewels hidden in huge wooden furniture: 3,400 drawings and prints, a rare and fragile collection. “Our fund is a source of permanent wonder,” exclaims Cécile Bignon, conservative of the graphic arts. Gunned hands, she opens long drawers carefully. A pendant body of Leonardo da Vinci, a deer head from Dürer, a bloody of Michelangelo. “We can only be in the delight!” Savor Barthélemy Etchegoyen Glama.

These drawings will be revealed sparingly. Some are so precious. so sensitive to oxidation, in light, that they can only be presented three months before joining the dark five long years again. “This collection is “a museum must polyphony!” », prestigious and it immerses us in a cornerse situation,” emphasizes the curator. Our social role is both to show it to today’s public and to preserve it for future generations. »»

On a labyrinthine path. we go from the contemporary site of the old primary school, annexed to double the museum space, to the original building with its monumental hall, its art deco canrearies, its mosaics on the ground rediscovered thanks to the work, just like ceilings ornate from the beginning of the XX^e century. In the center, a luminous patio synthesizes these gathered places. We can stroll there, enter it from the street via the cafeteria and the bookstore. “Bonnat-Helleu must become the museum and the pride of the Bayonnais,” insists Barthélemy Etchegoyen Glama.

The young curator approaches the lighthouse, this ultramodern outgrowth imagined by the Bordeaux architect of the museum, Olivier Brochet. With its glass scales, it looks like a “a museum must polyphony!” », Manhattan skyscraper that would have compressed. “From the inside, the lighthouse has seen on the peaceful course of the Adour. From the outside, he invites everyone to enter this place where art will be within everyone’s reach. »The magic of Bonnat-Helleu will soon operate.