Musée des Augustins: Toulouse’s museum of art history is a wonderul former Augustinian Convent which makes a perfect Musee des beaux Arts. The building itself is listed as an historical monument and seems to work in perfect harmony with the art pieces displayed there.
A collection of over 4000 works has been built up around a core of works seized during the french revolution from the collection of the old Royal Academy of Painting and Sucltpure in Toulouse and works from numerous religious buildings destroyed in the 1800’s.
The main galleries are built around the central courtyard garden - complete with the 15thcentury cloisters still intact. For aesthetic reasons, as much as historical reasons, a collection of gothic sculptures is grouped in medieval galleries which open out directly onto the cloisters and monastery garden.There are some wonderful long landing galleries of Romanesque sculpture followed by an amazing, nay fearsome, collection of religious paintings.
The museum is also the setting for a series of concerts throughout the summer months
Musee des Augustins, 21 Rue de Metz, 05 61 22 21 82
Musée Fondation Bemberg: A private museum of paintings, bronzes and works of art from the collection of George Bemberg, the greater part of which consists of paintings from the Renaissance through to the French modern schools.
Again it is the building itself which is worth visting as well as the work it houses. One of Toulouse's finest mansions, built in 1555 for the wealthy pastel merchant Paierr Assezat, it is based around an interior courtyard. It has a series of 13 themed rooms heavily decorated with fabric and furniture of the day; the elegant boudoir rooms and Ancien Régime salons are perfect hosts to some of the more classical works, the 15th century portraiture, and Venetian landscapes, and on the third floor, the light bright attic rooms showcase some wonderful collections of Impressionists, Fauves, and the French Modern School. The highlight is perhaps the Bonnard Room, which has an astonishing 30 Bonnard paintings and sketches
Fondation Bemberg, Hotel d’Assezat, Place Assezat, 05 61 12 06 89
Les Abattoirs, Musée d'art moderne: As the name suggests, Les Abattoirs is the town’s modern art collection housed in the city's former abattoir. The immense red brick riverside building served as an abattoir for more than 150 years and was converted in 2000 into the current gallery space. As well as holding touring exhibitions it has a collection of installations, sculptures, graphic arts and painting from the second half of the 20th century
Les Abattoirs, 76 allees charles-de-fite, 05 62 48 58 00
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