The museum Angladon is quite recent in Avignon, it was open in 1996, thanks to the Angladon-Dubrujeaud foundation, which inherited the artwork collection of Jacques Doucet, a rich parisian collector who lived in the first part of the 20th century.
The collection presented in the museum Angladon is exceptional, it holds the most famous painters of modern painting :
Degas, Modigliani, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Picasso and many others. It is also exceptional for its diversity and coherence together, with works of art from the Middle-Age to the 20th century in painting and decorative arts.
The way choosen for the display is to keep the spirit of the original art collection, gathered by particularly entlightned art lovers, in the place itself where lived Jean and Paulette Angladon-Dubrujeaud, the last holders of the collection.
At the ground floor, two rooms with simple design display modern paintings. Masters of the end of the 19th century like Van Gogh, Cézanne or Vuillard are presented in the first room, as Modigliani, Foujita or Picasso's paintings are together in the second room with 1920's artwork.
In the first floor a room is devoted to Middle-age and Renaissance, a red living room to the 17th century, a blue living-room to the 18th century, another one to the 19th century which present a beautiful "Tempest" painted by Joseph Vernet.
This tour through time and art history is exceptional by the quality of the artworks displayed. We feel the sensitivity, the sens and the the soul of a collection in which the owners put the best of themselves.
Jacques Doucet Collection
The man at the start of the collection exposed in the Angladon museum is Jacques Doucet (1853 – 1929), a famous "couturier parisien" who ran a prosperous dressmaking company at the beginning of the 20th century.
After he had gathered a brilliant collection of 18th century classical artwork, he starts to collect modern art from 1912. He is the friend and the sponsor of the "avant-garde" artists, and his exceptionnal collection includes the greatest ones : Manet, Matisse, Picasso, Braque, Modigliani, or the Douanier Rousseau
After his death, a part of the collection scatters ion the most prestigious museum of the world. Jacques Doucet's little nephew, Jean Angladon-Dubrujeaud (1906-1979), a painter and sculptor living in Avignon inherit the collection in 1968.
Along with his spouse Paulette Martin, also a painter, the couple installed the collection in their own home, the Hôtel de Massillan, a mansion built in 1694 by the architect Jean Péru in the centre of Avignon.
Jean and Paulette Angladon-Dubrujeauddecide to bequeath their artistic patrimonial to the Foundation Angladon-Dubrujeaud, in charge to transform their home in a museum and give to the public the possibility to enjoy this exceptionnal art collection.
The museum opens in november 1996 in the Hôtel de Massillan.
As a tribute to the museum founders, Jean et Paulette Angladon-Dubrujeaud artist workshop has been recreated.
Masterpieces of the Angladon Museum
The Angladon Museum holds some exceptionnal masterpieces.
The unique Vincent Van Gogh painting exhibited in Provence is here in the Angladon Museum. This is an artwork from his Arles stay, dated of 1888 and titled "railway wagons".
The painter of the Provence par excellence, Cézanne is also present in the Angladon Museum with this "Nature morte au pot de grès" painted in 1873.
The collector Jacques Doucet was also a fervent amateur of oriental Art. A whole room of the Angladon museum is devoted to the far East Art, where are displayed several porcelain, like this rounded vase dated from the Enperor Kangxi reign (1662-1722).
The delicate Marquise de Pompadour's face - king Louis XV's mistress - is painted with an extreme sensitivity on this watercolour and gouache on ivory of the 18th century. This period was the first artistic passion for Jacques Doucet.
Coming to Angladon
GPS location : N 43.9460603, E 4.8069271
Contact
Museum Angladon in Avignon
website www.angladon.com
5, rue Laboureur - 84000 Avignon
tel : +33 (0)490 82 29 23