Exceptional donation of a painting to the Goya museum in Castres by Laboratoires Pierre Fabre

“It’s an old tradition” recalled the mayor of Castres Pascal Bugis, recalling that the Pierre Fabre laboratories had already donated works of Art to the Goya museum, citing in particular “Christ served by the angels” by Francisco Pacheco. And the “benevolence” of this company “for the museum of the city which saw it born” was manifested again this Tuesday, November 12.

The Museum of Hispanic Art has indeed received an exceptional donation from Pierre Fabre Laboratories: the Jardín de Sant Just d'Esvern, an oil on canvas by Santiago Rusiñol y Prats dated 1930. The work is exhibited to the public from this Wednesday, November 13 next to another painting by this Catalan painter “The Court of the Orange Trees”, thus forming a magnificent diptych emanating from an essential artist in Spain from the first half of the 20th century.

A painter “admired by Picasso”

“The garden was his trademark,” said Joëlle Arches, the curator and director of the Goya Museum, who recalled the career of Santiago Rusiñol y Prats, little known in France but “admired by Picasso” and who is one of the great masters of Spanish modernism, a movement of Catalan origin part of the Art Nouveau trend between 1880 and 1930. This painting is a real enrichment for our collection.

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This donation is part of the partnership between the City of Castres and Pierre Fabre Laboratories and follows the exhibition last spring of Pierre Fabre's personal collection of works of art presented at the completely renovated Goya Museum. “Mr Pierre Fabre, attached to his city and its museum, would have appreciated this new setting,” adds Pascal Bugis.

Eric Ducournau, the general director of the Tarn pharmaceutical and dermo-cosmetics group, recalled “the strong relationship” between art and Pierre Fabre.