Painting, sculpture, photography... legends were born here
Many legends of the arts were born in Burgundy. Thus, it is in Tournus that the painter Jean-Baptiste Greuze was born in 1725. Three of his paintings are in the Louvre and, if his reputation has far exceeded the borders of the region, Jean-Baptiste Greuze is considered as the "Father" of his home town, Tournus being now nicknamed "the city of Greuze". A museum is dedicated to him. Hippolyte Michaud was born in 1823 in Beaune. He was a student at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Dijon and was appointed curator of his native town in 1864. Many of his works can be seen in the museum he directed, but also in the Magnin Museum and the Dijon Museum of Fine Arts. Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (1758-1823) was born in Cluny. He is known for his nudes and mythological scenes, but also for his portraits of Josephine de Beauharnais and Talleyrand. Born in 1765 in Chalon-sur-Saône, Joseph-Nicéphore Niépce is famous for being the inventor of photography. Today, the beautiful museum of photography that bears his name is a high point of the cultural life of Chalon. And the house that he lived in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes (where he died in 1833) has also become a museum of photography. The famous sculptor Hippolyte Moreau (1832-1926) was born in Dijon. Most of his work is kept in the city's Museum of Fine Arts. Another famous Dijon native, and not the least, Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923) lived a good part of his childhood at the Château du Castel (now the Lycée Le Castel). After working at the Forges de Châtillon-sur-Seine, he met Charles Nepveu, a Parisian entrepreneur specialized in metal construction. This was a decisive meeting that gave us the Eiffel Tower. And the Statue of Liberty in New York. Let's also mention François Pompon (1855-1933), a native of Saulieu, but we'll come back to that later! Finally, much closer to us, the Chinese painter and sculptor Yan Pei-Ming (born in Shanghai in 1958) has been living in Dijon for over 40 years. The Musée des Beaux-Arts has dedicated a major exhibition to him for its reopening in 2019.
Museums not to be missed, often unique in Europe!
Among the hundred or so museums listed in the region, some are absolutely unmissable. It is impossible to be exhaustive, but in addition to the beautiful Fine Arts Museums of Dijon and Beaune that we have just mentioned, let's mention - still in Dijon - the Museum of Sacred Art and the Museum of Archaeology. In the Côte-d'Or, don't miss the Musée du pays châtillonnais, located in the former Notre-Dame de Châtillon-sur-Seine abbey. It contains one of the most beautiful collections from the Celtic and Gallo-Roman periods in France. With, at the key, an extraordinary piece: the treasure of Vix, discovered in 1953 at the foot of the mount Lassois. This treasure is composed of the largest vase known to date: 208 kg, 1.64 m high, 1.27 m in diameter. In Montbard, a detour is necessary to the Museum and the Buffon Park, dedicated to the great naturalist of the 18th century who was born here and who influenced several generations of scientists (from Lamarck to Darwin). The park and its 14 terraces are intimately linked to the history of the castle of the Dukes of Burgundy on which it is built, and it is here that he wrote a large part of the 36 volumes of his Natural History. In 2022, the museum was completely refurbished on two levels, and a new tour is now proposed. On the Yonne side, the Museums of Sens and the Museum of the Saint-Germain Abbey of Auxerre are also essential. Under the name "Museums of Sens" are gathered all the historical masterpieces of the city that can be visited at the same time: next to the cathedral and its priceless treasure, you will discover the synodal palace (13th century, restored by Viollet-le-Duc), the palace of the Archbishops (16th and 18th centuries) and the Orangery of 1684. The prehistoric, protohistoric and Gallo-Roman collections, as well as the sculptures and paintings dating from the 15th to the 20th century, are particularly worth a visit. You can see works by Brugel, Boudin, Watteau, Rodin, as well as a unique collection of furniture by Raymond Subes and ceramics by Jean Mayodon. At the Saint-Germain d'Auxerre abbey, don't miss the jewel of French heritage that it conceals: its crypt. Built in 841, this underground church houses the oldest Carolingian wall paintings in France. As for the Museum of Art and History located in the abbey, it traces the history of the Auxerre region from prehistory to the Middle Ages. In Nièvre, the Museum of Earthenware and Fine Arts of Nevers is located in a garden occupying the space of the former cloister of the Notre-Dame abbey, it has a collection of 400 pieces of Nevers earthenware from the end of the 16th to the beginning of the 20th century. A room is also dedicated to enamelled figurines, called "Nevers spun glass". A unique collection in Europe! Finally, in the Saône-et-Loire region, in addition to the Nicéphore Niépce Museum in Chalon-sur-Saône, there is the Musée des Ursulines in Mâcon, which has a room dedicated to the illustrious native of the city, Alphonse de Lamartine. As for those (numerous) in the Autun area, they are also worth a visit. In Autun, first of all, visit the Rolin Museum installed in the birth house of Nicolas Rolin, chancellor of the dukes of Burgundy and founder of the Hospices de Beaune. The archaeological collections show the Gallo-Roman past of the city, and you can also admire works from the Middle Ages as well as important paintings from the 17th to the 20th century by (among others) Brugel, Le Nain, Vernet, Dubuffet, Miró, and Alechinsky... As for Bibracte, this unique archaeological site has been awarded the label "Grand Site de France". Or how, on the Mont Beuvray, in the middle of the Morvan park, to discover the richness of the Celtic civilization of the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. With a rich museum on the Gallic life.
A paradise for new, modern and contemporary arts!
While animal sculptor François Pompon (a native of Saulieu) leads the way, Art Nouveau also left its mark on Burgundy, before modern and then contemporary art took hold. The Yonne region in particular has become a mecca for artists, who find the space they need to create, the calm essential to their emergence, and the proximity to Paris. One of the finest examples of this is the Métairie Bruyère in Parly, not far from Toucy. An art center dedicated to graphic arts and printing. Prints by Alechinsky, Soulages and Texier have been produced here. In the village of Noyers-sur-Serein, two fascinating museums await you. The Maison du schématisme, an avant-garde movement born at the dawn of the 60s, is housed in a 15th-century building on the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville. Housed in a handsome 17th-century building, the Musée des Arts Naïfs et Populaires (Museum of Naive and Popular Art) is home to the curiosities donated to the town by a 19th-century humanist, as well as an exceptional collection of naive art by painter Jacques Yankel. And folk art from Southern Europe, Asia and Latin America. At La Fabuloserie, in Dicy, over 1,000 works created by self-taught artists are exhibited in a vast, original and playful exhibition. A place so anti-institutional that the painter Jean Dubuffet called it "a decentralized anti-Beaubourg", and "a powerful citadel of the marginalized". The "inhabited garden" includes one of the internationally recognized gems of art brut: the Manègede Petit Pierre. Finally, in the Puisaye region, don't miss the Château de Ratilly in Treigny, which hosts exhibitions and concerts all year round. And, further north, Fontenoy, to visit the Centre Régional d'Art Contemporain du Tremblay, which presents temporary exhibitions of contemporary art every year. A native of Auxerre, where he was born in 1920, Fernand Rolland founded this center with Jean-Louis Vetter in the late 50s. Alechinsky, Poliakoff, Niki de Saint Phalle, Soulages and Dubuffet have all exhibited here. But the rest of Burgundy is obviously not to be outdone. Let's return, for example, to the famous animal sculptor François Pompon, author of numerous works including the famous White Bear, commonly known as "Ours Pompon". A François Pompon Museumis dedicated to him in his birthplace, Saulieu, and a reproduction of his Bear can be seen at the entrance to the town, as well as in Dijon's Jardin Darcy. Dijon, where Le Consortium promotes contemporary art throughout the Côte-d'Or region. Over the years, this association has built up a first-rate collection that has been invited to prestigious European museums (from the Centre Pompidou to Seville). We're also talking about L'Usine, the Espace autogéré des Tanneries (a former factory turned artists' squat) in Dijon, and La Porcherie in Ménetreux-le-Pitois, a venue for exhibitions and experiments in contemporary art. And, of course, Art'Planète in Nuits-Saint-Georges, a festival of contemporary and outsider art. In the Saône-et-Loire region, in addition to the equivalent centers, there's the highly acclaimed biennial of sacred contemporary art in Autun, which takes place every July and rivals those in Mâcon, Marcigny and Nolay. Not to mention those in neighboring Côte-d'Or, in Dijon and Saulieu, for example. Finally, in the Nièvre morvandelle region, stop off at Corbigny, where the Saint-Léonard abbey has been transformed into a place for artistic creation: Abéicité is a multi-faceted arts center with artist residencies, exhibitions and a concert hall.
