Atger Museum

With its thousand drawings and some five thousand prints, the Musée Atger, nestled in the heart of the historic buildings of the Faculty of Medicine, is Montpellier's oldest museum. Its unexpected presence in these premises is the result of the generosity and deliberate choice of Montpellier collector Xavier Atger (1758-1833), an enlightened and passionate art lover.

The intellectual vitality of the School of Medicine, where an exceptional library was established in the early 19th century, explains this choice. But Atger also wanted, in line with the humanistic vision of medicine shared by the school's professors, to enable students to open their minds to art and, in particular, to study drawing, an essential technique in their training and, above all, an unparalleled means of exercising their powers of observation.

Atger therefore strives to present a broad overview of themes and techniques, bringing together minor and major masters from the French, Italian, and Flemish schools.

The French school is, of course, the most represented, with artists such as Fragonard, Philippe de Champaigne, and Hubert Robert, but also the "southerners" Sébastien Bourdon, Charles Natoire, and Raymond Lafage.

The Flemish and Northern European works are equally interesting, including a beautiful double-sided Rubens, two drawings by Van Dyck, and a remarkable head of an old man by Jordaens.

The Italian school, with 150 drawings, includes such great names as Carracci, Guercino, and Donatello, as well as the Venetian Giambattista Tiepolo, whose 26 works are particularly helpful in understanding Atger's passion for drawing, an art form in which he saw unparalleled "warmth, energy, and expression."

The donation of 81 drawings by Montpellier artist Colette Richarme (1904–1991) in 2017 provides an opportunity for fruitful dialogue between contemporary works and classical art.