Season 1
Episode 1: The Gorilla's great adventure
After several years in the hall of the Musée d'arts de Nantes, the Gorilla abducting a woman Nouvelle fenêtre by Emmanuel Frémiet moves to the second floor of the Palais. A tricky move for this half-ton sculpture, whose secrets are revealed by the Gorilla and the museum teams.
Episode 2: The epic of the Prodigal Son
The works of Nantes painter James Tissot are often loaned for exhibitions, such as the four paintings in his Suite de l'enfant prodigue New Windowpart of the 19th century collection of the Musée d'arts de Nantes. After several years of peregrinations, they are back on the walls of the Palais. L'enfant prodigue and the museum teams reveal this return to their roots.
Episode 3: The Pastel Nymph
Fragile and sensitive to the outside environment, pastels are rarely exhibited in museums. Alexandre Jean-Baptiste Hesse's Nymphe à sa toilett Nouvelle fenêtree has been brought out of storage after a long period of inactivity and valuable restoration work, and is now on display for the first time, and for a few months, at the Musée d'arts de Nantes. A hanging as delicate as the work itself, as described by the Nymph and the museum staff.
Season 2
Episode 1: The Two-Headed Car
The POF No. 87is the museum's true mascot. This double-edged carintrigues all visitors. Where does it come from? Why and how were these two car fronts assembled? And how is this unique sculpture maintained? Fabrice Hyber, its creator, and Jean Edmond Moudiki Kouo, the museum's technical agent, discuss their special relationship with the work.
Episode 2: The Night Watchwoman
Jane Graverol's Le bon bout de la raison has a fascinating history. It is the first painting by the Belgian surrealist artist to enter a French museum. Its subject is enigmatic: a night bird perched between two candles. And above all, restoration work was necessary to mitigate the traces of time left by an unfortunate vacuum cleaner. Restorer-conservator Jean-Baptiste Bodiguel explains why.
Episode 3: Random distribution of 20% of squares, superimposed 5 times by pivoting in the center
But why is this work by François Morellet so painful to look at? Is it an optical illusion, vibrations on the retina... does it really move? Frédéric Morellet, the artist's eldest son, and Salomé Van Eynde, exhibition curator at the museum in 2025, interviewed during a hanging session, decipher the rules of this algorithm of wood and paint.
Episodes available on your listening platforms
Acast New window Spotify New window Deezer New window Soundcloud New window Apple Podcasts New Window Amazon Music New window
Permanent collections
The collections of the Musée d'arts de Nantes have been built up over time, notably through the acquisition of works by living artists. Purchased on the art market, donated or bequeathed, the collections today comprise over 14,000 works in four categories: ancient art, 19th century, modern art and contemporary art.