Musée Ingres Bourdelle

The Musée Ingres Bourdelle is an art and archaeology museum located in Montauban, in the Tarn-et-Garonne department of southwestern France. It is the only museum in the world dedicated to the painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867), and also pays tribute to the sculptor Émile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929), both of whom were born in Montauban. Housed in a former episcopal palace classified as a monument historique, the museum holds the world's largest collection of drawings by Ingres and the second-largest collection of his paintings after the Louvre. Following extensive renovation and expansion completed in 2019, the museum now spans 2,700 square metres, offering modernised galleries, improved accessibility, and new spaces for permanent and temporary exhibitions.

The museum's building has its origins in the Hundred Years' War, when the English constructed a fort on the banks of the Tarn River after the treaty of Brétigny gave them control of Montauban. The unfinished fort was later demolished, and in 1664 Bishop Pierre de Bertier commissioned a new episcopal palace on its ruins, designed by architect Bernard Campmartin and completed around 1680. The structure incorporated a surviving medieval underground chamber, the Salle du Prince Noir, named after Edward Plantagenet, the Black Prince. After the French Revolution, the palace was confiscated and became the town hall of Montauban.

A municipal museum was first established in 1820, and in 1843 the collection was significantly enlarged by a bequest of 68 paintings from Baron Joseph Vialètes de Mortarieu. The decisive moment came in 1851 when Ingres, then aged 71, donated part of his collection to his native city. The Ingres room was inaugurated in 1854, and upon the artist's death in January 1867, the museum received a major bequest of approximately 4,500 drawings, 20 paintings, personal effects including his violin, and documentary material, largely through the efforts of his pupil and executor Armand Cambon. The museum took the name Musée Ingres and occupied the entire palace after the town council moved to the former Hôtel d'Aliès de Cieurac in 1908. The building was classified as a monument historique by decree on 11 March 1910.

During the Second World War, the museum served打架了 served as a temporary refuge for the Mona Lisa and numerous other works evacuated from the Louvre. A major renovation between 1951 and 1958 modernised the institution. The most recent transformation began in 2016 and concluded with the museum's reopening on 13 December 2019 after 36 months of work and an investment of 13.1 million euros. The renovation, entrusted to the architecture firm Bach N'Guyen, added more than 700 square metres of public space, restored the second floor of the central corps, opened a third-floor pavilion, and improved accessibility with two new lifts. At this time the museum was renamed Musée Ingres Bourdelle to honour both of Montauban's celebrated artists.

The museum's holdings centre on two major figures of French art. The Ingres collection comprises 4,507 drawings, 44 paintings, the artist's violin, personal collections, and extensive documentation, making it the most comprehensive repository of the artist's work anywhere in the world. The Bourdelle collection, the largest in the region, includes 70 sculptures and approximately 100 graphic works spanning all periods of his career, from his early work in Montauban and Toulouse through his mature Paris period.

Beyond these two principal holdings, the museum possesses significant collections that reflect itsこの building's ecclesiastical past and the broader history of art. These include paintings from the Renaissance to the modern period, formerly belonging to the bishops of Montauban; works by Italian and Northern schools from the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries; 17th-century French and foreign schools; and 18th-century art from Boucher to David. The archaeological collections, housed in the medieval Salle du Prince Noir, contain objects from Gallo-Roman times through the Middle Ages. The museum also holds collections of faience, art objects, and works by modern and contemporary artists. Around 1,000 works are on permanent display, including 500 that were restored between 2016 and 2019.

Among the paintings by Ingres in the collection are Joseph Ingres (1804), Jean-François Gilibert (1804), Lorenzo Bartolini (1805), The Dream of Ossian (1813), Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter (1820), Roger Freeing Angelica (1841 version), Madame Henri Gonse (1845-1852), and Jesus among the Doctors (1862). The collection also includes La Belle Jardinière, as well as the artist's violin, which gave rise to the French expression "violon d'Ingres" denoting a favourite hobby or pastime.

The Bourdelle holdings feature the monumental original plaster of Héraklès archer (Herakles Killing the Stymphalian Birds), considered the sculptor's masterpiece, along with marbles, bronzes, and plasters representing all phases of his development. Notable works include La Tête de la France and La Jeune Bacchante, two plaster casts donated by Bourdelle's widow Cléopâtre Sévastos-Bourdelle, and four plaster reliefs from the preparatory work for the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris: La Sculpture et L'Architecture, La Tragédie, La Danse, and La Musique. The collection also includes the bust Jeunesse, busts of Achille Bouis and Coquelin cadet, and deposits from the Musée Bourdelle in Paris arranged by Bourdelle's daughter Rhodia Dufet-Bourdelle.

The museum additionally displays works by Armand Cambon, Ingres's pupil and the museum's first conservator, as well as members of the School of Montauban including Marcel-Lenoir, Andrieu, Lucien Cadène, and Desnoyer. Other significant holdings include works attributed to Charles Le Brun, Eustache Lesueur, Pierre Mignard, François Boucher, Jacob Jordaens, Anthony van Dyck, and Albert Cuyp.

The museum occupies the former episcopal palace of Montauban, located at 19 Rue de l'Hôtel de Ville in the city centre, near the Pont Vieux and the banks of the Béarn. The building is a composite structure whose lower levels incorporate the remains of a 14th-century English fort, including the vaulted Salle du Prince Noir, while the upper portions consist of the classical-style palace constructed between 1664 and 1680 in brick, the abundant local material. The palace served as the bishops' residence until the Revolution, then as town hall until 1908.

The 2019 renovation revealed previously hidden architectural features including painted joists with scalloped arches and fine gilding beneath plaster. The project added glass pavilions in the courtyard to streamline visitor circulation, created a new reception space, and installed a graphic arts cabinet with horizontal drawers and bespoke transparent vitrines for the display of Ingres's drawings. The renovation also uncovered and restored the 10-metre-high ceiling of the former chapel, now used to display large-format works. The building's facades, bays, and roofs were completely renovated, and digital multimedia installations were integrated throughout the galleries.

The Musée Ingres Bourdelle is located in the city centre of Montauban, on the edge of the pedestrian zone, approximately 12 minutes' walk from the train station. Free parking is available at "Berges du Tarn" with direct access to the museum by stairway and lift; paid parking is also available in the city centre and surrounding areas.

The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday year-round. During the low season (October-April), hours are 10am to 5:30pm Tuesday through Friday, and 10am to 7pm on weekends. During the high season (May-September), the museum is open 10am to 7pm, with extended hours until 9pm on Thursdays. The museum is closed on Mondays, as well as on 25 December, 1 January, 1 May, and 1 November. Last entry is 30 minutes before closing.

Admission is €10 full price and €5 reduced price, with rates including access to both permanent and temporary exhibitions as well as entry to the Natural History Museum across the street. Free entry is offered on the first Sunday of each month and to visitors under 18 years of age. Group reservations can be made through the Tourist Office at 05 63 63 60 60.

The museum offers enhanced visitor services including a mobile app with guided tours and thematic or personalised routes, a conference-auditorium, tea room, bookshop-gift shop, and a public graphic arts cabinet. The digitised collection of drawings is accessible via screens in the galleries. In 2024, the museum hosted a loan exhibition from the Musée d'Orsay from 19 January to 19 May to mark the 150th anniversary of Impressionism, alongside an exhibition celebrating 20 years of acquisitions by the Société des Amis du Musée Ingres Bourdelle and a temporary contemporary exhibition "Un miroir du monde" by Anne and Patrick Poirier in the Salle du Prince Noir.