Land of Cinema
Thanks to its sharp relief, its luxuriant vegetation and its picturesque villages, the Tarn attracts photographers and directors from all over the world. Appreciated for its naturalness and wildness, the department is one of director Alain Guiraudie's favourite settings. Indeed, three of his films - The King of Escapes, No Rest for the Brave and This Old Dream That Moves - were made here. The last of them was presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It was also called "Best film of 2001" by Jean-Luc Godard.
Philippe Guillard's feature film, Le Fils à Jo
, was shot in Gaillac. For the record, one of the actors, Vincent Moscato, began his sporting career in the Tarn before embarking on a career as an international rugby player.More recently, the Tarn was used for the filming of Rémi sans famille, by director Antoine Blossier, and for Les Recettes du bonheur, an American feature film produced by Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey with Charlotte Le Bon and Helen Mirren in the cast.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: a symbol of the Tarn
The illustrious little count that was the painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born at the Hôtel du Bosc, in Albi, on 24 November 1864. Afflicted from an early age by pycnodysostosis, due to the consanguinity of his parents, his life was punctuated by numerous health problems, in particular fractures in his legs, partly responsible for his small size (barely 1.52 m).
He began to paint as a child, inspired by the horses in the surrounding meadows and Japanese art. After convincing his mother that he could make a living from his art, he moved to the Montmartre area of Paris and began to paint nudes inspired by Edgar Degas and the life of Parisian cabarets and theatres, particularly the world of the Moulin Rouge. He came to be known as the "soul of Montmartre", and many of his contemporaries described him as an observant character, capable of painting with great humanity. His paintings describe the life and reality of prostitutes as well as doctors, writers and sportsmen. His most famous works are probably Salon, rue des Moulins, Femme à sa toilette and Bal au Moulin-Rouge
. He died in Malromé, in one of his mother's properties, on September 9, 1901, of syphilis and the consequences of his alcoholism. At his death, one of his friends, Maurice Joyant, asked for the creation of the Toulouse-Lautrec museum in Albi. To this end, the painter's parents made a generous donation of over 1,000 works. Today, they are housed in the artist's birthplace, in the splendid Palais de la Berbie, the only museum in the world dedicated to Toulouse-Lautrec.The Gaillac Museum of Fine Arts
One cannot mention the fine arts of the Tarn without mentioning the splendid museum of Gaillac. Installed in the Château de Foucaud (17th century) since 1934, the château-museum was refurbished in 1994 to make better use of its Italian and French gardens, its beautiful brick buildings and its permanent and regular exhibitions.
Within its walls, the museum holds an impressive collection of sculptures, drawings by 19th and 20th century artists, mainly from the region, and paintings. The major collection of the museum comes from the works bequeathed in 1895 by the Gaillac painter Firmin Salabert (1811-1895). A pupil of the neo-classical artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres - who served as an inspiration to Edgar Degas, Auguste Renoir and Pablo Picasso - he gained most of his recognition through his portraits. He bequeathed to his native city many pastels and drawings of the romantic artists of the 1830s whom he accompanied on their travels to Paris and London. The collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gaillac also includes some beautiful landscapes of the Alps.Other art museums
Already, the Abbey-School of Sorèze, a sublime historical monument located in the Montagne Noire, has been home to the Dom Robert and 20th Century Tapestry Museum since 2015. This young conservatory is dedicated to the original and prolific work of the painter-cartoonist Dom Robert, whose real name was Guy de Chaunac-Lanzac (1907-1997). The museum's holdings include two collections: the works of Dom Robert (60 tapestries, 2,156 drawings, 23 watercolours and 1 painting, 129 tapestry cartoons and 16 models) and a compilation of 35 tapestries by 12 other artists (Lurçat, Prassinos, Tourlière, etc.) who participated in the revival of Aubusson tapestry.
In the north of the department, towards Gaillac, the museum of Lisle-sur-Tarn will also lend itself to a nice visit. It bears the name and pays tribute to the most illustrious of its children, the draughtsman and engraver Raymond Lafage (1656-1684). Founded at the end of the 19th century, under the impetus of local scholars such as Achille Gaillac and Jules Rigaud, it houses a prodigious collection of the artist's works. It allows you to discover the different techniques of engraving in hollow or intaglio and to better understand the know-how and the talent which are hidden behind each of these features. At the same time, the museum also gives pride of place to works by artists from the region, notably the Castres sculptor Jean-Jules Cambos (1828-1917), the Haut-Garonne portrait painter Jean-Pierre-Victor Maziès (1836-1895), the Fourqueval painter Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921) and the Aude painter Eugène Pech (1923-1991).
Don't leave the department before visiting the Goya museum in Castres. This Hispanic art museum is unique in France and is housed in a former 17th century episcopal palace designed by Jules-Hardouin Mansart, one of the architects of Versailles. This prestigious setting houses the 1894 bequest of Pierre Briguiboul, son of a Castres painter and collector. The town of Castres determined its Hispanic vocation by bringing three paintings by Goya into the museum, a direction that was affirmed by prestigious deposits from the Louvre Museum in 1949. Since then, the acquisition policy has regularly enriched this remarkable collection: series of engravings by Goya, purchase of the Gaudí series by Joan Miró, etc. Today, the museum covers a period from Antiquity to the 20th century.
