Chic Deauville welcomes Les Franciscaines
A new cultural venue is coming to the chic seaside resort of Deauville on Normandy's Côte Fleurie* and will be inaugurated and open to the public Mid-May, 2021 (dates TBC)
Known for its horse racing, photography and the American Film Festival, Deauville will also be known for Les Franciscaines, an innovative cultural center featuring a museum, media center and auditorium. It will be housed in former buildings used by Franciscan nuns since 1875. The buildings, which included the convent, went through many incarnations starting as an orphanage for sailors’ daughters, a hospital during WWI. Its was then decided to build a clinic in 1931, which was expanded at the outset of WWII. In 1974 the orphanage became a vocational school and after building a new convent in 2008, the nuns left the historic buildings in 2011, which were acquired by the city of Deauville shortly after. For a full history, click here
Les Franciscaines’ architectural rebirth will meld the historic building with ultra-contemporary elements and interiors. The museum’s permanent collection will include 546 artworks donated at his death by figurative painter André Hambourg—all of which were inspired by Deauville’s beautiful coastline known as the Côte Fleurie*. An additional 100 paintings from the artist’s personal collection will be permanently exhibited including works from his contemporaries Marie Laurencin, Foujita, Van Dongen, and Derain. The city has also embarked on an aggressive acquisitions program to grow its collection with works by Eugène Boudin, Paul Signac, André Lhôte, Moïse Kissling, Raoul Dufy and others.
In addition to the Franciscaines’ permanent collection, the opening exhibition “On the roads to paradise ” will feature 100 works—from paintings to ceramics, manuscripts to tapestries, honoring the three religions of the Book: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Works by Brueghel de Velours, Maurice Denis, Marc Chagall, Imran Qureshi, Mané-Katz will be on loan from starting Mid-May (exact dates TBC) from the Louvre Museum (an exceptional partner of the exhibition), the Musée d'Orsay, the Museum of Art and History of Judaism and the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, just to name a few.
For major 2021 events in Deauville including all things “horse” i.e. riding competitions, shows, dressage, polo and horse racing, The American Film Festival, the signature “Les Planches” photography festival and even Deauville’s Tatoo Festival, click here.
*The Côte Fleurie (Flowery Coast) is a 25-mile stretch of Normandy’s coast dotted by seaside villages & ports like Cabourg, Houlgate, Villiers-Sur-Mer, Deauville, Trouville, Cricqueboeuf and Honfleur | see great 2010 article in the New York Times by Seth Sherwood.