VIDEO. Albi: final preparations at the Toulouse-Lautrec museum for the centenary exhibition
Since the end of April, the teams of the Toulouse-Lautrec museum have been hard at work setting up the exhibition “When Toulouse-lautrec looks at Degas”. The assembly is in the process of being finished.
For the past few days, there has been great excitement at the Toulouse-Lautrec museum. Everyone is hard at work to finish setting up the temporary exhibition “When Toulouse-Lautrec looks at Degas”. The Albigensian cultural event will open its doors on Tuesday and end on September 4.
Since April 20, the museum’s services have begun to fit out the room. The choice was made to keep the same museography as during the last exhibition dedicated to Montmartre. The space has been cut into seven sections, proven by brightly colored walls.
On the floor, you can see the names of the works that must be hung on the walls.
The 90 works that make up the exhibition arrive little by little carefully packaged by a carrier specializing in this kind of exercise. They are tested for half the outdoors. “The last will arrive on Thursday,” said Florence Saragoza, the curator. “It’s the first time that there are so many works coming from outside,” she adds.
When they leave the boxes, a condition report must be made. Ensure that the works are in the same condition as when they left. Two people carefully examine each part of the paintings, their frames to note the slightest change. Once this work is done, they must be hung correctly in relation to the plan set by the museum. “Sometimes we have surprises because the frame is bigger than expected,” comments the curator.
Once everything is installed, for Florence Saragoza and her team, “it’s almost over”. The end of a work of just over a year and a half.
This exhibition will mark the centenary of the museum. “We wanted to offer a new look at Lautrec. What else can we say about Lautrec? “explains the curator. Hence the idea of having him converse with Degas.
Once the theme has been chosen, you have to define what you want to say. “We will choose the works according to the demonstration we want to make,” says Florence Saragoza.
First, you have to locate them. By chance for Lautrec and Degas, there are fairly complete catalogs of the works that were made.
Second problem: the possibility of a loan. In museums, reservations must be made more than a year in advance. However, with the covid, many exhibitions have been postponed. So there is a bit of clutter. Thus, the museum wanted to exhibit a work by Degas held by the museum of Pau: the cotton office in New Orleans. But she left for another exhibition in Italy, which had been postponed.
For this exhibition, the works come from many places: about thirty in total. From private collectors, institutions and art galleries. Some of Lautrec from outside (Orsay, Toulouse). “The Parisian galleries have played the game”, emphasizes Florence Zaragoza. And yes some works can be purchased. Anyway, better to have won the lottery already!