The museum today

The museum offers visitors of all kinds a large panorama of European art from the 15th to the 20th centuries in two wings separated by the City Hall garden. Here you will find famous artists such as Tiziano, Veronese, Rubens, Van Dyck, Chardin, Delacroix, Corot, Picasso or Matisse. We also have an important collection from the Dutch school of the 17th century. We also present rich collections of works from three famous Bordeaux artists: Redon, Marquet and Lhote.
 

Largest Fine Arts collection in Nouvelle-Aquitaine

With its 8200 works (paintings, sculptures and graphic art), the collection of the museum of Beaux-Arts is the largest in Nouvelle-Aquitaine and one of the most important public collections in France. It makes itself known thanks to several loans, about 300 to French and foreign museums every year for exhibitions, partnerships with great French and foreign museums, involvement in cooperation networks such as FRAME and finally thanks to research (publications, colloquia…) which we conduct regularly.

 
  

Ambitious exhibitions and events

Since 2015, under the leadership of our director Sophie Barthélémy, the museum of Beaux-Arts has organised ambitious exhibitions.

These exhibitions allow us to debut new art topics all the while creating an attractive product for locals and tourists. These exhibitions can be presented in the Beaux-Arts Gallery (across from the museum, Colonel Raynal square), in the museum’s Current exhibition room (south wing) or in the general collections. The museum also offers several outside events in collaboration with municipal, French and international institutions.

 

 

A museum involved with the public

For several years, the museum of Beaux-Arts of Bordeaux has prioritised the public in its cultural activities. Although it accepts its heritage as an encyclopaedic museum, it remains connected to contemporary art and society. Always wanting to open up, the museum has committed to multidisciplinary programming of all areas of art in order to be very inclusive and constantly renew itself. The museum has an active cultural policy with lots of partnerships with artists or all sorts of cultural institutions: museums, associations, art centres, book stores, art schools, libraries, operas, conservatories, etc.

 
 
  
 

Outreach to everyone

Literary retreats, visits for the hearing impaired, slam poetry, meetings of minds, etc.: the museum’s offerings allow all to discover the works of the museum in unique ways in an approach that is open to all disciplines (in French). The museum also has a policy of dynamic outreach, especially to youth. The idea is to accompany tomorrow’s visitors in their discovery and appropriation of the museum: learning, understanding the works and their message, appreciating the beauty of a work and especially having fun.

 

 

A museum that rejects all forms of exclusion

In order to reject all forms of exclusion, be it geographic, social, cultural or medical, the museum of Beaux-Arts concentrates its efforts on outside projects for « excluded » groups either in collaboration with associations specialised in helping these demographics or by doing outreach with incarcerated or hospitalised individuals.