Goya Museum

The Goya Museum (French: Musée Goya, also known as Musée Goya, musee d'art hispanique) is an art museum in Castres, Tarn, France, dedicated to Hispanic art. Established in 1840, it holds the largest collection of Spanish art in France, including 200 paintings compared to 173 in the Louvre. The institution takes its name from the Spanish painter Francisco Goya, reflecting a specialized focus on Hispanic culture that has defined the museum since 1947. It is situated in the former Palace of the Bishops of Castres.

The museum originated in 1840 when the city of Castres acquired nine paintings alongside collections of mineralogy, paleontology, and zoology, initially functioning as a natural history cabinet under its first curator, Jean-Baptiste Brianne. The institution's trajectory shifted in 1894 when the city received a bequest from the family of painter and collector Marcel Briguiboul, which included three paintings and engravings by Francisco Goya. Following the relocation and subsequent destruction of the natural history collections by 1956, the museum pivoted entirely toward fine art. In 1947, curator Gaston Poulain renamed the institution the Goya Museum, cementing its Hispanic focus. Postwar expansion benefited from state acquisition funds and significant deposits from Parisian institutions including the Louvre, the Picasso Museum, and the Musee d'Orsay, as well as regional museums in Toulouse, Lyon, and Rennes. An art history library was established in the palace tower in 1982.

The museum encompasses 5,000 artworks spanning multiple disciplines. Its primary strength is Spanish art, featuring 200 paintings ranging from the 14th century to the present, 140 sculptures, coins from antiquity to the 19th century, and nearly 1,000 drawings and prints. The collection also includes 420 French paintings, many with Spanish themes, 612 weapons, antique furniture, and tapestries. French works with Iberian connections include Alfred Dehodencq's bullfighting scene Combat de Novillos, Jacques-Emile Blanche's La Guerre d'Espagne, and Leon Bonnat's street scene from Cordoba. An Italian painting by Luca Giordano, an artist active in Spain, is also held. The museum continues to acquire Hispanic and Latin American works with financial assistance from the state and patrons like the Pierre Fabre Laboratories.

The core of the Spanish collection rests on three Goya paintings donated in 1894 by the Briguiboul family: The Junta of the Philippines (circa 1815, Goya's largest work), Self-Portrait with Spectacles (circa 1800), and Portrait of Francisco del Mazo (circa 1815-1820). The museum possesses the complete four print series by Goya: Caprichos, Disasters of War, Los Disparates, and La Tauromaquia. Significant 1949 deposits from the Louvre include Bartolome Esteban Murillo's Our Lady of the Rosary and a Portrait of Philip IV as Hunter from the workshop of Diego Velazquez. Other historical Spanish masters represented include El Greco, Francisco de Zurbaran, Jusepe de Ribera, Alonso Cano, and Juan de Valdes Leal. Modern and contemporary holdings feature Pablo Picasso's 1971 Buste d'homme ecrivant, Joan Miro's Gaudi series, 83 prints by Salvador Dali, and works by Joaquin Sorolla, Juan Gris, and Maruja Mallo.

The museum is housed in the Palace of the Bishops of Castres, a structure built in 1675 based on designs by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, the architect of the Palace of Versailles. The adjacent gardens were designed by Andre Le Notre, the landscape architect of King Louis XIV. The building provides a historic setting for the collection, which was historically accessed via a grand staircase of honor leading to the Salle des Etats. Following a complete refurbishment, the museum reopened on April 15, 2023, expanding to 23 rooms covering 1,500 square meters and incorporating an exhibition hall in the contiguous former abbey of Les Cedres.

The Goya Museum is located in Castres, France, within the Tarn department. It operates as a municipal museum with robust support from the French state and regional acquisition funds. In addition to its permanent collection, the institution hosts regular temporary exhibitions and provides educational programs for adults and children. Its unique status as the primary repository of Spanish art in France, comparable to the Hispanic Society of America in New York, has attracted numerous political and cultural figures since the 1950s, including French presidents Vincent Auriol, Charles de Gaulle, and Georges Pompidou, as well as international artists like Pablo Casals and Luis Mariano.