“A painting dies if you don’t look at it”, the Patt Donation museum opens in Audincourt

A showcase for their exceptional collection of 245 works of contemporary art, built up over the years. It’s an extraordinary story that this new Audincourt museum tells us, installed in the sumptuous Peugeot castle, rehabilitated into a museum. The Audincourt Art Center (Donation Patt) was inaugurated this Friday, May 24 in the evening. It opens its doors to the public for the first time this Saturday, May 25.

The Patt couple: Andrée, a teacher, and Gérard, a worker, developed a passion for contemporary art. With their modest means, they began to acquire works of art, “according to our encounters and our favorites, sometimes guided by chance”without ever stopping, until this exceptional collection, estimated at nearly 2 million euros, which they amassed in their house in Dorans in the Territoire de Belfort. “It was everywhere, even in our toilets”.

Without heirs, Andrée and Gérard wanted share this treasure with the general public. “A painting dies if you don’t look at it“, says Andrée. “Art must circulate and be shared”, adds Gérard. In 2021, the septuagenarian couple set out in search of a setting for their treasure.

The couple thought of the town of Audincourt, to which they donated the entire collection. The city immediately offered them transform Château Peugeot, in the heart of Japy Park, on the banks of the Doubs, into a museum. Nearly €500,000 worth of work and a few months later, it’s opening time.

“This museum goes far beyond what we dared to imagine,” said Gerard. “It’s much more beautiful than at home. We discover a magnificent place where all the works take on a scale that we didn’t see at home”adds Andrée who invites us to open the door of this beautiful castle museum: “Come and let yourself be guided by your desires. Enjoy what you like. Turn away from what you don’t like. And above all, come back often”

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On 2 levels, 12 exhibition rooms and 568 m², the museum today presents some 150 works out of the 245 in the collection. The ambition is to tour some of these works. A very heterogeneous collection. “We move from street art to figurative art: Messagier, Combas, Dali”explains Jean-Luc Morin, the culture assistant. “This is a very important donation for a town like Audincourt of 15,000 inhabitants.”

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