Two new exhibitions in Montauban: the first invites the public to discover the work of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres around his famous painting The Vow of Louis XIIIpreserved at Montauban Cathedral. The second, Jacqueline and Paul Duchein, presents the works acquired by the Ingres-Bourdelle museum (MIB – *) during the sale of the Duchein couple’s collection. These two events can be discovered until May 18, 2025. This is also the last chance to discover the exhibition “On the ruins of the Black Prince” Jean-Michel Othoniel…
The Ingres-Bourdelle museum hosts installations by contemporary artists every year. In 2024, it was the turn of Jean-Michel Othoniel to take over the premises, with a unique exhibition. The artist has thus proposed a major work where his work on glass brick, begun more than ten years ago, takes the form of monumental architecture.
“It evokes the ever-renewing hope and sacredness of life. As if emerging from a tomb of black glass, concretions of vertiginous mirror bricks rush towards the sky and defy weightlessness. underlines the museum team which still presents this exceptional work until January 5 !
All the stages of the artist's meticulous work
One is leaving, others are arriving! THE Ingres-Bourdelle museum now presents an exhibition of drawings by Ingresaround the table The Vow of Louis XIII preserved at the Montauban Cathedral. They will surround the graceful little sketch for the Child Jesus painted by Ingres around 1821 and acquired on June 12 by pre-emption of the City of Montauban from Christie’s with state support.
This presentation brings together nearly 70 works (drawings, watercolors and paintings) including the most beautiful studies created by the artist Montalbanais for the preparation of his famous painting. Presented at the Salon of 1824, the painting was commissioned by the Ministry of the Interior in 1820 in order to feature “The Vow of Louis XIII” which places the Kingdom of France under the protection of the Blessed Virgin at her Assumption.”
This subject, both historical and religious, required a long period of reflection from the artist. “The preparatory studies bear witness to his meticulous work and his extensive research around the different characters. The sheets representing the Virgin, the child, the king, the angels, the draperies or the decor show Ingres' attention to detail which deploys exceptional drawing skillsfrom his delicate nude studies in graphite pencil to the sumptuous draperies on colored paper, treated with stump and black stone enhanced with white” specifies the presentation of the exhibition.
The exhibition is introduced by works created by Ernest Pignon-Ernest around the Wish of Louis XIIIstuck by the artist on the walls of the facade of the cathedral in 2009, on the occasion of the exhibition Ingres and the Moderns.
More than a collection, a passion
The other museum event, at the start of 2025it is the presentation of works from the collection of Paul and Jacqueline Duchein, acquired in September 2024 by the City of Montauban for the Ingres-Bourdelle museumon the occasion of a sale at Christie’s.
These are some works representative of the tastes of this couple of passionate collectors. These will be brought together on a wall in the purest surrealist spirit, dear to the heart of Paul Duchein. Thus, a drawing of Braque dedicated to the very young Lieutenant Paul Duchein, a paper evoking the
the couple's passion for folk art objects, a collage of Jacques Villeglé “Bob in Montauban, rue Gambetta – Montauban” (above) as well as an album acquired by the Society of Friends of the Ingres-Bourdelle Museumin which Paul Duchein brought together his epistolary exchanges with the artists he admired.
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Philippe MOURET
Located in Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne) in the heart of the city's former episcopal palace – a building over 800 years old, listed as a Historic Monument – the Ingres-Bourdelle museum
emerged at the beginning of the 19th century. It bears the name of its two tutelary figures, both natives of Montauban. The only museum dedicated to Ingres, it houses the world's first collection of drawings by the master. But also the most important collection of works in the region by the sculptor Émile-Antoine Bourdelle. Spread over three rooms, this collection allows us to understand the evolution of the sculptor's style.
France
Golf
