It is not yet noon and already a waiting file is forming in front of the Abattoirs museum in Toulouse, for the opening. Visitors want to see the six Lady and the Unicorn hangings at all costs. Marie-Pierre, a Toulousaine is held with three friends, “it is quite exceptional that such a work is in Toulouse. You have to take advantage of it, ”she said. Further on, Marc and Jocelyne are with their grandchildren (11 and 8 years old), “to show them these exceptional works. We are also interested in history, ”explains the retired couple. Behind them, Mathilda and Valentine, 16 years old, are there on the advice of their parents “who told us that it was very nice. This exhibition can give us references for our theses. Isabelle, another Toulouse woman, accompanied by her children and nephews, also comes especially for the Lady with the Unicorn. “She came to our place, she deserves to go and see her,” she slips.
Since the opening of the “Lady with the Unicorn” exhibition on October 30, the Abattoirs Museum has already welcomed more than 5,000 visitors in five days. A success !

Timeless

Until now, the Lady with the Unicorn had only left its museum in Cluny, Paris, three times since its acquisition in 1882. It was exhibited at the MET in New York in 1973, in Japan in 2013 and in Sydney in 2018. Toulouse is therefore the fourth city that has the pleasure of hosting this medieval masterpiece, even if it had hidden it during the First World War, in the Couvent des Jacobins.

Installed in the basement of the Musée des Abattoirs, the six hangings of the Lady with the Unicorn stand next to Picasso’s majestic stage curtain, entitled “The remains of the Minotaur in Harlequin costume”, produced in 1936. More contemporary works are available. dialogue with these 1500 tapestries, including one by Suzanne Husky where the artist represents a bulldozer and an eco-activist activist using the same tones and patterns.

The current success of the Lady with the Unicorn testifies to its timelessness. “It is the characteristic of masterpieces to cross time without losing their interest but also to be different in each era. At the moment, we see the representation of women and the relationship to nature, ”concludes Annabelle Ténèze, chief curator and director of the museum.