The Yves Brayer Museum of Modern Art opened its season by celebrating its twentieth anniversary. The beginnings date from 1976, when Yves Brayer gave the town around ten oils on canvas which will be exhibited in a room of the Maison du Grand Fauconnier, which was then the town hall. His wife Hermione will make other donations.
Jean-Gabriel Jonin, culture assistant from 1995 to 2008, art enthusiast and artist himself, organized exhibitions of regional painters in Fonpeyrouse and asked them to offer a work to the municipality, a custom which still persists today.
A fund was thus formed, which is presented in another room, on the second floor. Jean-Gabriel Jonin met André Verdet in 2001. The feeling passed between the two aesthetes, and Verdet gave part of his collection to the community, including some pieces by prestigious painters (Picasso, Léger, Klee, Prévert…). In 2003, Jean and Monique Saucet, friends and patrons of Maurice Baskine, who were looking for a place to exhibit his productions, were seduced by the spirit and setting of Cordes. The municipality agrees to receive them the following year.
In 2004, an Aline Gagnaire exhibition took place in Fonpeyrouse. Jean Bollery, his heir, bequeathed around fifteen of his creations to the city. In 2006, thanks to Alain Meunier, son of Cordais surrealist painter Francis Meunier, several paintings completed the collection. Faced with the proliferation of works, it was necessary to find a solution to present them in good conditions to the public and honor the commitment made during these contributions. The idea was launched during a municipal council: to move the town hall to Fonpeyrouse, since the tourist office was moving to the country house, and make the Grandl Fauconnier a modern art museum.
The decision is accepted and the museum then comes to life. The place quickly became a center for varied cultural activities, such as school workshop visits, conferences, concerts and shows. For this anniversary, a new display has been completely redesigned. “When we hang up works, it allows us to rediscover them, to bring them to life,” underlines Elodie Cortés, in charge of cultural affairs. Visitors who know the place will not fail to see Yves Brayer’s paintings from another perspective, magnified in their new space.
