Atger Museum

With its collection of 1,000 drawings and some 5,000 prints, the Musée Atger, nestled within the historic buildings of the Faculty of Medicine, is Montpellier’s oldest museum. Its unexpected presence here is the result of the generosity and deliberate choice of Montpellier collector Xavier Atger (1758–1833), a knowledgeable 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 a humanistic vision of medicine shared by the school’s professors, to enable students to engage with art and, in particular, to study drawing—a technique essential to their training and, above all, an unparalleled means of exercising their powers of observation.

Atger thus strives to present a broad overview of themes and techniques, bringing together both lesser-known and renowned masters from the French, Italian, and Flemish schools.

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

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

The Italian section, featuring 150 drawings, includes such great names as the Carracci, Guercino, and Donatello, as well as the Venetian Giambattista Tiepolo, whose 26 works offer particular insight into Atger’s passion for drawing—an art form in which he saw “unparalleled warmth, energy, and expression.”

The 2017 donation of 81 drawings by Montpellier-based artist Colette Richarme (1904–1991) opens the door to a fruitful dialogue between contemporary works and classical art.