Art Collection

Throughout her whole life, Anne Gruner Schlumberger gathered an important collection of works of art from many different periods, a portion of which she bequeathed to the Fondation des Treilles. Included are works by Dubuffet, Giacometti, Picasso, Max Ernst or Victor Brauner (who she personally knew and with whom she developed true friendship bonds, as can be testified by her correspondence with them), as well as works of art by more recent artists.

Her love of art didn’t stop at paintings. Indeed, it extended from engravings - especially those of her great friend Roger Vieillard and his painter wife Anita de Caro -, to sculptures, particularly those by François-Xavier Lalanne and Laurens.

The collection is kept in a secure area.

The Fondation des Treilles has entrusted the management of this collection to Danièle Giraudy, honorary General Curator of the Museums of France, firstly in order to establish an exhaustive inventory of works of art and to do a historical study of them, and secondly to broaden the public’s consciousness of its existence by allowing its access to some of its numerous works of art. (Click here to learn more about the collection).

The first step undertook by the Fondation des Treilles to honour its founder was the exhibition «Le regard d’un mécène» (Through the eyes of a patron) which was hosted by the Musée Cantini in Marseilles from 2 December 2005 to 9 April 2006. Since then, the exhibition has been presented in the Milan Galleria Gruppo Credito Valtellinese under the name «Collection de passions, passion de collections» (Collection of passions, passion of collections) between 2 March and 30 May 2007, in the Brussels Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Ixelles from 13 June to 16 September 2007, in the Cultural and Economics Exchange Centre of Dinan from 12 July to 28 September 2008, in the Chateau de Tours from 7 November 2009 to 17 January 2010 and in the Musée des Beaux Arts of Nîmes from June to October 2011 (“Une collection particulière” / “A particular collection”). From 20 January to 12 May 2013, the exhibition will be presented in the "Fondation Fernet-Branca".

In 2009, the Fondation des Treilles’ Graphic Arts collection also opened up to the public. In between September and October, the Fondation des Treilles exposed forty works on paper accompanied by sculptures by Max Ernst and Yassilakis Takis in the salons of the Banque Neuflize OBS in Paris (link to the catalogue preface and introduction).

Besides this traveling exhibition, which shows off the entire collection, the Fondation des Treilles has set up, since the 1990s, a lending policy for its works of art, thus contributing here and there to the recognition of its artists.

Any curators wishing to borrow or organise an exhibition should contact Mrs. Bourjade, Foundation Managing Director.