The Maurice Denis departmental museum conceals a dense history in the maze of its vaulted corridors and gives pride of place to symbolist and Nabis painters whose works are revealed during your journey.
Now listed as a historic monument, this imposing building built at the end of the 17th century at the request of Madame de Montespan was then a royal general hospital which welcomed the needy. In 1914 Maurice Denis acquired this building in the garden of which he already had a workshop. He restored it, named it "The Priory" and lived there with his family until the end of his life.
The initial fund of the museum was constituted by an exceptional donation made in 1976 by the family of Maurice Denis. Since then, numerous donations and acquisitions of works by Symbolist and Nabis artists, this innovative artistic movement at the crossroads of the 19th and 20th centuries, have enriched it.
Thus, alongside the works of Maurice Denis illustrating religious and family themes, intimate scenes, or landscapes of Italy and Brittany, are exhibited paintings by Sérusier, Bonnard, Ranson, Vuilliard,... among the friends of the artist. .
Do not miss to enter the chapel of the old hospital, one of the treasures of the place. The unique decor is the most complete and characteristic religious pictorial ensemble of the artist.
Tiered on the hillside, the garden in which the museum is nestled invites you to stroll by offering varied landscapes and a rich botanical trail. Around the museum, a first level decorated with sculptures by Antoine Bourdelle, a close friend of the owner of the premises, is made up of a shaded courtyard and a long terrace lined with lime trees and hundred-year-old yews. From there, you reach the alley of the rose garden and a vast green theater lined with tall trees. Below stretch the old orchard and the vegetable garden, embellished with a fountain and a pond.
Strolling through this harmonious garden provides a better understanding of the importance of nature in the painter's work and life.
The garden space is now the privileged setting for plastic arts workshops and open-air concerts...
A museum and a collection to discover without delay in the heart of Saint-Germain-en-Laye!
Attention people with reduced mobility will not be able to access the floors, the elevator was out of order for an indefinite period.