The news spot. The family of the pioneer of impressionism, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who died a hundred years ago (December 3, 1919), has been forgotten in the commemorations held in honour of the painter in Cagnes-sur-Mer (Alpes-Maritimes), where he spent his old days. His great-grandson, 76-year-old, Jacques Renoir, who himself grew up in the area of les collettes, is an echo of this unfortunate oversight.
” READ ALSO – At the Musée d’orsay, in swing with the Renoir
call Renoir was not a sufficient argument, according to him, to be invited to the vernissage of the special exhibition on show until 22 September in the house of his grandfather, today transformed into a museum. Nine portraits loaned by the museums of Orsay, Geneva and Besançon) complete the list of sixteen ordinarily visible to the 35,000 to 40,000 visitors each year, on average, to les collettes.
” READ ALSO – At the Musée d’orsay, in swing with the Renoir
“We’re part of the banned (…) while we have done much for the city inherits the house and become a museum, with its park of three hectares and century-old olive trees,” says Jacques Renoir, who has decided to organize a counter-exhibition entitled the “refusés” , in reference to the exhibition organized by the first impressionists in 1863, after their exclusion from the formal Parlor.
And the heir does not mince his words: “the celebration of The rest of the city and in a little improvised. It’s good to have a few tables, to invite schoolchildren, I approve of what is done, but I regret what is not. The laxity and incompetence of the town hall in the cultural field are that this centennial is a series of mesurettes.”
“No will of eviction”
“I don’t know what happened,” said Roland Constant, first deputy to the mayor, assuring that there was “no willingness foreclosure” but confirming nonetheless a discomfort with the descendant of the illustrious painter who was briefly in charge of culture together with the mayor LR Louis Nègre in the 1990s.
” READ ALSO – Renoir le Figaro in 1911: “You know that Claude Monet came to paint my olive trees?”
“We didn’t want to make an event glow, but something that happens throughout the year and for the Cagnois, from 3 January to 3 December. If this was not enough for him, it is his problem (…) we tried to put the package (…), to the extent of our means,” he explains.
The next highlight of this year’s Renoir at Cagnes will be the reconstitution of the summer workshop of the painter in September, on the eve of the traditional lunch on the grass in costume, which brings together the Cagnois each year in the property of the painter. “We are going to try to decorate with a musical content and poetic,” adds the chosen one. Remains to be seen whether the heirs of the artist will be welcome.
