With the exhibition “From Renoir to Van Dongen”, the spotlight is on the incredible wealth of the collections of the museums of Bagnols-sur-Cèze and Pont-Saint-Esprit

Among the works exhibited at the Pont-Saint-Esprit Museum of Sacred Art, “Portrait of Maleck André in a White and Blue Striped Dress” by Albert André, 1898. A richly commented visit by Auréliane Vila-Drules. Midi Libre – C. C.

A Tahitian Mask by Gauguin among the hundred works presented at the Albert-André Museum in Bagnols-sur-Cèze until May 4, 2025. Midi Libre – C. C.

At the secular museum of sacred art, “The great woman in blue”, one of the masterpieces of the exhibition, signed Albert André as well as other unpublished early works by the painter friend of painters to be discovered in Bagnols and Pont-Saint-Esprit. – C. C.

At the Sacred Art Museum in Pont, portrait of Renoir by Albert André (1919). Midi Libre – C. C.

The Gard Departmental Conservation presents rare and unpublished works at the Albert-André and Sacred Art Museums. The exhibition, visible until May 4, 2025, traces the history of a collection born over the decades thanks to extraordinary personalities. A dive among the great names of the late 19th and 20th centuries.    

A mask of a Tahitian woman by Gauguin, a Danaïdesigned Rodin, a statue of Camille Claudel, drawings and sketches by Renoir, paintings by Marquet, Valtat, Signac… The exhibition “From Renoir to Van Dongen”, inaugurated in mid-December and presented until May 4, 2025, is exceptional in more ways than one. First, because for the first time, an exhibition is common to the two sites that are the Albert-André Museum in Bagnols and the secular museum of sacred art in Pont-Saint-Esprit, whose history is closely linked to the personalities Albert André and his adopted daughter Jacqueline Bret-André. The exhibition thus traces the extraordinary history of the successive donations that have led to the creation of a collection of figurative paintings, from post-impressionism to the present day, of incredible richness.

A tour that traces the history of the first modern art museum in the provinces

Guided tour with Auréliane Vila-Drules, tour guide at the Gard Departmental Conservation, which manages this collection, a lively and fascinating narration and explanations. The visitors are delighted. There were about forty of them on Tuesday morning in Bagnols, about thirty on Friday in Pont-Saint-Esprit.
In Bagnols, on the second floor of the town hall, the tour has been completely redesigned to present about a hundred works that had not or rarely been unveiled to the public.
The exhibition is organized into four chapters, one for each personality who helped build the collections of the Bagnols museum, the first modern art museum in the provinces!
The first room is dedicated to Léon Alègre, the founding father of the museum, historian, archaeologist and renowned painter. We discover his drawings and prints of Bagnols, landscapes, “a very detailed, meticulous, realistic style” . A defender of popular education, he created a library-museum in 1857 which moved in 1868 to where it is located today. “At the time, it was an encyclopedic museum, with a room reserved for natural history, one for industry, one for agriculture…” Pieces from this first museum were thus highlighted, such as this Chinese lute in the shape of a moon.

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Renoir invited Albert André to agree to become curator

Albert André would become the museum's curator in 1917. “He had inherited a house in Laudun where he spent his summers. One day, while he was running an errand in Bagnols, the butcher asked him if he wanted to become the curator. Renoir said to him: “Accept, I will give you some paintings”. He created a network, called on his friends, painters living in his time.” In the second room, works by Puvis de Chavannes, Signac…“After the fire of 1924, the municipality had given money that allowed Albert André to bring in 140 works, many small formats, he could not buy large canvases. There is still a Danaïde by Auguste Rodin…” In the third room, “we find many drawings, engravings, watercolors, a great variety of techniques, all figurative”. And portraits and a bust of Renoir, the“Mentor of Albert André, a friendship was born between them. Albert André will be the godfather of Renoir's last son and his executor. He will become friends with Jean Renoir who will bequeath him Renoir's easel and palette”.

Jacqueline Bret-André continues and enriches the work of her adoptive father

In the next room, under the aegis of Jacqueline-Bret-André who became curator of the museum from 1958 to 1979, rendezvous with many paintings by Albert André. “Jacqueline will continue the work of Albert André. We owe the transformation of the museum to her. She gives paintings every year, by her father and by painters who are contemporaries of theirs.”
Finally, two rooms are dedicated to the important donation and legacy of George Besson, collector. “All his life, with his wife Adèle, he bought works. Here is a drawing by Rodin, here a caricature of Monet, there two watercolors by Signac…” George Besson and Albert André would become friends… The last room is thus richly stocked: The portrait of Adèle Besson by Kees van Dongen, a small portrait of George Besson by Matisse, inks by Marquet, and bouquets of flowers signed Suzanne Valadon and Bonnard.

Free entry. Exhibition game booklets have been designed for children, ages 8 and up.

 

At the secular museum of sacred art, magnificent portraits signed Albert André and Auguste Renoir

Continuation of the visit to the secular museum of sacred art in Pont-Saint-Esprit, where around sixty rarely exhibited works are presented.

Works that have been included in the collections thanks to donations and then the legacy of Jacqueline Bret-André. Among them, magnificent portraits of women by Albert André, paintings by Valtat and Signac, several paintings by Auguste Renoir also representing portraits of women from his entourage such as Dédée, the model of his last years, or Maleck, the wife of Albert André.
Born in 1904 and died in 2006, “Jacqueline throughé century and lived her entire life in contact with artists. Here, these are among the most beautiful pieces among the 300 works that she bequeathed to the Gard Departmental Council”, specifies the tour guide Aur& eacute;liane Vila-Drules. “The Impressionists broke the academic codes of the time. They claimed a painting of proximity, of real, with subjects “anecdotal”.” Albert André belongs to the post-impressionist generation: here is The Lady with the Dog (1900, by Albert André) or a woman depicted getting dressed. “There, he attached himself to the rendering of the skin […]. There, he breaks the body, does not represent it integrally , it's new.” The exhibition perfectly illustrates the research on colors and textures of this generation of painters. "Here, he uses very bright colors, announcing Fauvism […]. Here, everything is blurred, what counts are the shapes, the verticals, the blur provokes life, movement." Albert André éwas close to the Nabi movement. The Great Woman in Blue (1894) is “the work closest to this movement, it is an early work by Albert André, the masterpiece of this exhibition”.

Visits and workshops in both museums in the coming days

Upcoming tours with a tour guide: this Tuesday, December 31, at 10:30 a.m., at the Albert-André museum in Bagnols (4 euros). At 2:30 p.m., the same day, “Colored Glass” workshop, a family tour followed by the creation of a window decoration (from 6 years old, free upon reservation at 04 66 50 50 56).

Friday, January 3, at 10:30 a.m., guided tour of the Pont-Saint-Esprit Museum of Sacred Art, then at 2:30 p.m., “Impressive Painting” workshop, a painting and printing workshop at from the works in the exhibition (from 6 years old, free while places last, 04 66 3917 61).

Following guided tours: January 3, February 21 and 28 (10:30 a.m.) for the secular museum of sacred art; February 18 and 25 (10:30 a.m.) at the Albert-André museum.

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