Guest of honour 2026
MuMa – Le Havre

Masterpieces on Paper from MuMa at the Salon du dessin

The André Malraux Museum of Modern Art (MuMa) in Le Havre, which opened in 1961, in an unflinchingly modern building designed by architects who had studied under Auguste Perret, is the result of a long history of benefaction.

Its collections were started in 1845, when Le Havre’s first Museum of Fine Art was founded. Since then, they have steadily grown through generous donations by artists, families and collectors based in Le Havre. As a consequence, MuMa has one of the largest public collections of works by Eugène Boudin, which began in 1900 with a donation by the artist’s brother, and now comprises 350 artworks. Charles-Auguste Marande’s and Émilienne Dufy’s bequests in 1936 and 1963 respectively and Hélène Senn-Foulds’ 2004 and 2009 donations consolidated MuMa’s status as one of the leading French museums of Impressionist and Fauvist art.

A welcoming space that makes art accessible to everyone, MuMa receives 100,000 visitors a year. It offers a packed, lively schedule of exhibitions, events and educational activities aimed at a wide audience.

Armand Guillaumin
Sur le bateau, étude de personnages
1867
Pastel on laid paper
32 x 40.5 cm
MuMa, Le Havre, inv. 2004.3.119.
Olivier Senn Collection.
Donated by Hélène Senn-Foulds, 2004

As guest of honour at the 2026 edition of the Salon du dessin, the museum is showing 36 pieces from a collection of nearly 1000 artworks on paper.

Among the drawings from the pre-modern period – some of which were revealed to the public in 2011, for the fiftieth anniversary of MuMa’s opening – several stand out as being of exceptionally high quality, such as an admirable Académie d’Homme (Academic Drawing of a Man) by Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, a contemporary of Jacques-Louis David who was compared with Correggio in his lifetime, and a preparatory drawing for Thomas Couture’s vast painting Les Romains de la décadence (The Romans of the Decadence), a masterpiece that was shown in the Salon of 1847 and is now on display to visitors in the Musée d’Orsay. The drawing closely resembles the final composition, but concentrates on the details of the faces, while the bodies and draperies are only lightly sketched in.

Freedom of drawing in the 19th century

Here, nineteenth-century drawings delight with their freedom of line and fresh, powerfully expressive colours. A selection of Impressionist, Nabi, Symbolist and Fauvist artworks – which are abundantly represented in the collections – showcases Eugène Boudin’s ethereal watercolours, pastels by Degas, Sisley, Pissarro and Guillaumin, and drawings by Henri-Edmond Cross. Several gouache night-time scenes by Jean-Francis Auburtin, given to the museum by Francine and Michel Quentin in 2006, conjure up the late nineteenth century with their silent ambience. Two large artworks exemplify academic or so-called “pompier” art, including Alexandre Chantron’s Le Repos du modèle (Model Resting), a remarkable picture which was shown in provincial salons numerous times before it was acquired by the museum in 1894.

The creative effervescence of the 20th century

The last section illustrates the creative effervescence of the twentieth century. Artworks by Paul Jouve and Jean Dupas epitomise the elegance of Art Deco. Raoul Dufy’s pictures are steeped in a vibrant blue that truly is both colour and light and was born of the shores of Normandy. Léon Gischia’s and Sonia Delaunay-Terk’s chromatic compositions prolong the sensory journey, which ends with three abstract gouaches by Jean-Michel Coulon from the 1950s, which have recently been donated to the museum by his daughter, Aline Stalla-Bourdillon.

Together, they form an exceptionally rich and eclectic group that bears witness to almost two centuries of passion for the art of drawing. 

• Exhibition Curator: Géraldine Lefebvre, Director and Chief Curator
• Research Curators: Clémence Poivet-Ducroix and Michaël Debris, Assistant Curators
• Museum Registrars: Laurène Marin, Hector Buscemi and Essaid Amzil
• Restoration: Agnès Gaudu-Majstorovic, graphic art restorer

Edgar Degas
Après le bain, femme s’essuyant
Circa 1884-1886
Pastel on vellum paper
40.5 x 32 cm
MuMa, Le Havre, inv. 2004.3.106.
Olivier Senn Collection.
Donated by Hélène Senn-Foulds, 2004

Established in 1845,
the historical collections of MuMa-Le Havre
have been enriched thanks to the extraordinary generosity of donors.

As a result, MuMa has one of the largest collections of works by Eugène Boudin held by a public institution, thanks to a donation by his brother in 1900 of the artist’s studio collection (more than 200 pieces).

100,000 to 140,000 visitors per year to MuMa-Le Havre

Each year, depending on the exhibition schedule, the museum welcomes between 100,000 and 140,000 visitors, including around 15% from abroad and 12,000 children.

Also a place for meetings and discussions, the museum welcomes the general public with a cultural programme combining music, dance, theatre and a rich educational offering developed around visits, artistic workshops for adults and children, and multiple projects with schools, leisure centres and specific audiences.

Musée d’art moderne André Malraux – MuMa