A Renaissance monument, the work of Nicolas Bachelier, the Hôtel d'Assezat is an emblematic building of Toulouse, whose portal and courtyard arouse the curiosity of passers-by and tourists.
But we too often forget that this superb mansion, built by a rich pastel maker from the 16th century, also houses a very beautiful museum.
Closed for more than three years, the Bemberg Foundation, inaugurated in 1995, has been completely renovated and will welcome visitors again from February 2.
“We worked a lot on the reception, the brightness of the museum,” explains its director Ana Debenedetti.
From the entrance hall, while the curious can leave their belongings in lockers bearing the names of artists present in the collection, panels explain the history of the place.
The ticket office, also accessible online, is now located in the heart of the store, where you can also find out more about Georges Bemberg and his collection.
“The route has been simplified and we have created a PRM entrance, rue de l’Écharpe,” adds the director.
More than 400 works exhibited
But Ana Debenedetti, who arrived at the Bemberg Foundation in the summer of 2022 after many years at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, focused above all on completely rethinking museography, in order “to identify the main lines of the collection and to better showcase the works.”
Of the 700 works in the collection, more than 400 are on display.
“The idea is to create rotations, so that Toulouse residents enjoy coming back to discover these masterpieces.
» Thanks to this renovation, the museum has recovered 250 m2 dedicated to temporary exhibitions, the first of which will be devoted to Latin American photography, a nod to the Argentinian origins of Georges Bemberg.
The director of the Bemberg Foundation in Toulouse, Ana Debenedetti, shows us around the museum before its reopening on February 2, 2024. / Remy Gabalda REMY GABALDA
If the separation between ancient art on the first floor and contemporary art on the second has been maintained, the presentation has been completely revised.
Mediation tools in three languages, “deliberately concise”, have been added in a thematic chronological tour which allows visitors to understand the coherence of a collection which at first glance is eclectic.
“Georges Bemberg made safe choices.
His collection was based on favorites, with a large place given to Venice and Venetian artists of the 16th and 18th centuries, in particular.
He was also very fond of portraits and attached a lot of importance to light and colors,” explains the director.
“Plurality”
Ana Debenedetti also thought a lot about color and light for the walls, in order to bring more readability and visibility to a particularly rich collection.
Throughout the rooms, we discover works by Veronese, Titian and Tintoretto, exhibited alongside old furniture and art objects.
Italian bronzes, including a Mars by Giambologna, sit alongside books with elaborate bindings.
“This plurality, this complementarity is constitutive of the development of the arts,” explains Ana Debenedetti.
We go back in time and admire The Adoration of the Shepherds, a marvelous terracotta relief by the Genoese sculptor Angelo de Rossi.
While this masterpiece was thought to be lost, it was acquired by the Bemberg Foundation in August 2022. It is exhibited not far from an 18th century folio cabinet, made by the famous cabinetmaker Bernard van Riesen Burgh.
“We sometimes call it the little Mona Lisa of French furniture,” smiles the director before leading us into a small room which immerses us in 18th century Venice, with landscapes painted by Canaletto.
“It reveals the personality of the collector.
These are fragments of the Serenissima that he can enjoy.
This soothing piece, undoubtedly one of my favorites,” confesses Ana Debenedetti.
Upstairs, visitors will be able to appreciate paintings by Claude Monet or Berthe Morisot, in the room devoted to the Impressionists, then eleven paintings by Walter Sickert, “a unique ensemble in France”.
The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th saw the birth of the pointillism of Seurat, the synthetism of Gauguin and symbolism, of which we can discover some examples.
The opportunity also to admire a Fauvist work by Georges Braque, better known for his Cubist period.
Finally, a room is entirely dedicated to Pierre Bonnard, with 31 paintings and two drawings by this post-impressionist artist of the Nabi movement, including Georges Bemberg's favorite work, the still life Les Pommes jaunes et rouge.