Since the museum's creation, the City of Nantes has constantly enriched its collections, particularly by purchasing works by living artists. This acquisition policy has constantly enriched the collection, particularly in modern and contemporary art. The desire to bring all the collections together in a single location in the heart of the city provided the impetus for the 2011/2017 renovation project. Since then, the Musée des Beaux-Arts has become the Musée d'arts de Nantes.
The Museum of Fine Arts
1801: creation of the Musée des Beaux-Arts by Napoleon Bonaparte;
1810: acquisition of 1,155 paintings, 64 sculptures and 10,000 prints from the collection of Nantes diplomat François Cacault;
1891: the city decides to build a building to house and display the collection;
1900: the Palais des Beaux-Arts is inaugurated in the heart of the city, on its current site.
The Nantes Museum of Art
2009: suffering from a lack of exhibition space and the tools required for a modern establishment (auditorium, educational rooms), a project to restore and extend the Musée des Beaux-Arts was entrusted to the British architectural firm Stanton Williams;
2017: opening of a 21st-century museum, the Musée d'arts de Nantes! The architecture of yesterday and today truly reflects the museum's collections, with past and present in subtle dialogue throughout the galleries. It now offers 30% more exhibition space and invites you to discover the Cube, a new building entirely dedicated to contemporary art, now linking the Chapelle de l'Oratoire to the Palais.
