Musée Renoir

History

After discovering Cagnes-sur-Mer in 1903, Auguste Renoir, who was suffering from health problems, finally settled there by purchasing the three-hectare Domaine des Collettes on 28 June 1907, after falling in love with its centuries-old olive grove, orange trees and 19th-century farmhouse. He would have preferred to live in the old rustic farmhouse (which houses the Association of Friends of the Musée Renoir), but as Madame Renoir wanted a spacious house, he had a Neo-Provençal-style residence with two artist's studios built in 1908 by the Nice architect Jules Febvre. He moved there in the autumn of 1908 and painted and sculpted there for eleven years with his wife Aline and their three children, Pierre, Jean and Claude, until his death on 3 December 1919 at the age of 78.

At this residence, he produced works from his "Cagnes period" or "late period", drawing inspiration from his estate. He also turned to sculpture between 1913 and 1918, first with Richard Guino and later with Louis Morel. He received contemporary artists at his villa, including Henri Matisse, Aristide Maillol, Amedeo Modigliani, Auguste Rodin, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet and others.

After his death, he left the estate to his son Claude Renoir, who lived there until 1960.

In 1959, the Domaine des Collettes served as a filming location for Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe, a film by Jean Renoir, who thus filmed in the house where he had spent his childhood.

In 1960, the city of Cagnes-sur-Mer purchased the estate to turn it into a museum with about a dozen rooms, "where everything has remained as it was". The park was opened to the public. Over time, the national museums enriched the museum's collections with works by Pierre Renoir, Albert André, Aristide Maillol, Marcel Gimond, Richard Guino, Raoul Dufy, Pierre Bonnard, Ferdinand Deconchy, among others.

From 31 January 2012 until July 2013, the estate and museum were closed to the public for a complete renovation, and the collection of the "Musée Renoir" was transferred in its entirety to the Château Grimaldi in Cagnes-sur-Mer. The museum has held the Maisons des Illustres ("Houses of the Illustrious") designation since June 2011.

Heritage protection

The villa was designated as a monument historique by decree on 25 October 2001.

2026 theft

On September 8, 2026, two thieves made off with four paintings just before six o'clock in the morning, but lost two of them during their escape through the museum garden. The stolen works were the Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano and Jeune Femme au puits. They were among the most valuable in the museum. Both stolen paintings were on loan from the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

Collection

Jeune Femme au puits, c. 1886

Nu assis, 1895

Portrait de madame Stephen Pichon, 1895

Les Grandes Baigneuses, 1901–1902

Coco lisant, 1905

La Vallée de la Cagne et le baou de Saint-Jeannet, 1905

Madame Colonna Romano, c. 1910

Promenade, sous-bois, 1910

Paysage aux Collettes, 1914

La Ferme des Collettes, c. 1915

Les Toits du Vieux-Nice, 1911–1919

Petite Laveuse, c. 1915–1916

Nature morte aux pommes et aux amandes, c. 1919