Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, Art museum in Rouen, France
The Musée des Beaux-Arts is an art museum in Rouen that displays paintings, sculptures, and drawings from schools across Europe. The collection spans from the Renaissance to contemporary art, filling the generous spaces of the building.
The museum was founded in 1801 by Napoleon Bonaparte to make art treasures accessible to the public. The current building was constructed between 1877 and 1888 following architect Louis Sauvageot's design.
The 1909 gift came from François Depeaux, a Rouen industrialist and collector, not a painter; it brought Impressionist works by Monet, Pissarro, Renoir and Sisley to the museum. The entrance is flanked by Joseph Tournois's statues of the Norman-born artists Nicolas Poussin and Michel Anguier.
The museum is located opposite Square Verdrel and opens Wednesday through Monday from 10:00 to 18:00. Wheelchair access is available, and regular temporary exhibitions provide additional reasons to visit.
The museum's graphic arts cabinet holds some 8,000 drawings and has an international reputation; the permanent collections fill sixty rooms, with the 17th and 19th centuries especially well represented. In May 2021 a small oil by Otto van Veen, "Saturn and Minerva", was stolen and has not been recovered.
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