Discover the museum and its main masterpieces
Tours available in English, French, Spanish and Italian
From Italian primitives to contemporary art
Duration: 1h30
Want to see it all? From the 13th to the 21st century, discover 9 centuries of artistic creation in the museum's collections, from Perugino to Chagall, via La Tour, Delacroix, Monet...
Must-sees
Duration: 1 hour
Since its creation in 1801, the Musée de Nantes has been one of the few French museums to have enriched its collections with works by living artists.
This curiosity about the art of its time today offers a broad panorama of creation, from ancient art to contemporary art, via the 19th century and modern art!
The museum's collection includes many internationally renowned masterpieces. Discover some of them!
Painting in detail
Duration: 1 hour
Have you ever taken the time to observe a work of art in detail? Often, elements that we don't perceive at first glance tell us a lot about the work, its theme, its author, its history. Whether it's a question of the work's material, a signature hidden by the artist, a small insect with great symbolism or a few tears discreetly beading on a character's cheeks, these details will enable you to better understand certain essential works and their subtleties, from the master of Bigallo to Monet.
To find out more about a particular aspect of the collections
Tours available in French only
Private passions, collectors
Duration: 1 hour
The Museum of Art's collection was not built in a day. While the bulk of the early art comes from the purchase, in 1810, of works by diplomat François Cacault, many other collectors have shaped the museum's identity. The Clarke de Feltre donation brought in 63 works during the Second Empire. A century later, with Soulages and Kandinsky, Gildas Fardel opened the museum to abstract art. Even today, art lovers enrich the collections: the exceptional bequest of Jacqueline Boejat and the gift of Jean and Jeannette Branchet continue this tradition of patronage.
The Caravaggio painters
Duration: 1 hour
At the beginning of the 17th century, in Rome, Caravaggio revolutionized painting by asserting a realistic style. A whole generation of Italian, French and Scandinavian painters fell in love with the Caravaggesque style. Come and discover the museum's Caravaggesque paintings around masterpieces by Georges de La Tour.
Abstractions
Duration: 1 hour
The 1910s saw a decisive revolution in painting: the invention of abstraction. The work of art no longer sought its subject in the representation of nature. Favoring sometimes geometric abstraction, sometimes more expressionist abstraction, many artists had in common the renunciation of the representation of an external reality.
Towards modernity
Duration: 1 hour
In painting as in sculpture, the turn of the 20th century was a decisive moment on the road to modernity. Works by Monet, Rodin and many others provide an insight into this evolution at the Musée d'arts de Nantes.
In every color
Duration: 1 hour
Why paint exclusively in black? What's behind a monochrome canvas?
A colorful journey through the history of art!
This tour explores the history of colors, their manufacture and use, and the theories and symbolism associated with them, from the Renaissance to contemporary art, with masterpieces from the collections: from Perugino to Soulages, via Kandinsky.
Women artists in the collections of the Musée d'arts de Nantes
Duration: 1 hour
This tour introduces you to some of the women artists exhibited at the museum, from Caravaggesque painter Virginia Da Vezzi to abstract expressionist Joan Mitchell and Sonia Delaunay's decisive contribution to modern art.
At play! Rules and chance in art history
Duration: 1 hour
Until the end of the 19th century, the Académie des Beaux-Arts set the framework for artistic creation. Modernity and avant-garde artists challenged these principles, seeking to break free from them. As a result, artists invented new rules of the game, sometimes involving a new participant in the creative process: chance.
This tour invites you to discover playful artists who have used the rules of the game to open up new fields of creation.
Le Cube: discover our contemporary art collections
Duration: 1 hour
This tour allows you to discover the contemporary art collections on display in the Cube around 4 themes: the body, territories, painting, time and memory.