Presentation

The Association des Amis des Musées was founded in 1981, and has more than 500 members – all impassioned champions and lovers of art. Thanks to its support and dynamic energy, the city's museums have been able to enlarge their collections and carry out a number of important projects, including restoration work, exhibitions, and catalogue publications.

It also runs a highly varied programme of high-quality activities such as tours, conferences, lectures and concerts, enabling large numbers of people to develop their artistic sensibilities.

Sponsorship

1992: Restoration of the "Mazarin" desk

1993: Restoration of a painting by Puvis de Chavannes (main staircase of the Musée des Beaux-Arts)
1994: Purchase of a Louis XV bergère armchair
1995: Organisation of a fund for purchasing two busts by Pierre Chapelle, Cérès and Bacchus, Musée de la Céramique
1996: Purchase of a terracotta bust of a Bacchante by Charles-Antoine Callamard
1998: Purchase of a porcelain "trembleuse" cup and saucer, and a ceramic helmet ewer. Participation in the publication of a book on the works of Tolmer
1999: Purchase of a gouache drawing by Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps
2000: Purchase of a watercolour by William Callow: View of Rouen
2001: Participation in the museum's bicentenary (concert and reception)
2002: Purchase of an 18th century gun lighter for the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles; purchase of a drawing by Louis Le Boulanger de Boisfremont: Portrait of Boieldieu
2003/2004: Exceptional purchase of a 16th century reliquary bust of the Virgin in polychrome wood.

2005: Purchase of The Angel of Death, a study by Gabriel Lemonnier for his painting The Plague of Milan
2007: Purchase of a ceramic vase with translucent enamel decoration by Émile Gallé (co-sponsored with the Caisse d'Epargne de Haute-Normandie)
2008: Purchase of four paintings by the Association des Amis des Musées. Firstly, two small matching paintings on copper by Moïse Jacobber (1786-1863, one of the great 19th century flower painters), one of fruit, the other of flowers, signed and in perfect condition, which joined the museum's fine series of flower pictures, dominated by a masterpiece by Redouté. Secondly, two oval portraits painted by Gabriel Lemonnier in c. 1780: a self portrait and a portrait of his second wife, closely linked with the history of the Rouen Musée des Beaux-Arts, of which he was one of the founders.
2009 and 2010: Purchase of three paintings by Marie Bracquemond, famous as one of the key female figures in Impressionism with Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot and Eva Gonzalès: a self-portrait (1870), a portrait of Pierre Bracquemond (1878) and a small landscape (1880).
2011: Purchase of an 18th century Normandy sideboard and an 18th century grand feu earthenware dish, which can be attributed to Edme Poterat.

Contact

Association des Amis des Musées
Esplanade Marcel Duchamp
76000 Rouen
Tel.: 02 35 07 37 35
Courriel: amismuseesrouen@orange.fr
Site: www.amis-musees-rouen.fr