Best Fine Art in Montpellier

Tucked away within the buildings of the oldest medical faculty in France is a rare collection of almost 1000 drawings from the Renaissance up until the 19th Century. The collection is largely due to Roger Atger who from 1913 to 1933 made a gift of his collection. One can admire the talent in masterpieces by Caravaggio and Charles Le Brun of the Italian and French schools respectively and Van Dyck of the Flemish school.

Espace Dominique Bagouet serves as major exposition venue in the heart of the city. Nestled on the busy Esplanade Charles de Gaulle, it features a spellbinding showcase of art works across modern and fine art by noted 19th as well as 20th Century artists. The gallery also provides a thriving platform to regional and local artists to exhibit their talent to a wider, art-loving audience. In the past, Bagouet has hosted works of acclaimed artists like Albert Dubout, Anne Jallais, André Castagne and André Cervera, among several others.

The Musée Fabre is housed in an old high school that once was a former Jesuit college during the 15th and 16th centuries. Today the museum displays paintings of major European artists and schools of the 15th-18th Centuries, including Ingres, Véronèse, Courbet and Brueghel. There is a major collection of the works of Bazille, a painter from Montpellier whose rich family lived in a large townhouse on the rue Jean Moulin and whose fortune supported other painters including Monet (1840-1926). There are also sculptures, ceramics and contemporary works by Degas and Nicolas de Staël (1914-1955).

The gallery of the Ancien Courrier mostly exhibits works done by artists from the south of France like Jean Rudel. So the midday sunshine is celebrated in this gallery run by Danielle Benzima and Martine Mongin. This spring Philipe Vercellotti holds the place of honor. This painter from Toulouse shows us his world, that of boiterie: a bric a brac composed of boxes, phials, toys, boats. In effect it is an organized pile, in which the trompe l'œil technique is used. Furthermore you will find this gallery situated in the Rue de l'Ancien Courrier, hence the name, in the Écusson quartier, the historical heart of Montpellier. So you can continue your visit of the city in this quartier made up of narrow, winding alleysways.

The soaring steeple of the church of Saint Anne is one of the most visible landmarks of Montpellier. Situated in a pedestrianized zone of the city center, the church is no longer used for religious worship and today houses a city art gallery which regularly exhibits the work of artists from Montpellier and elsewhere. The artwork tends to be contemporary, including painting, photography and sculpture. Although the façade at Carré Ste-Anne is a stunning Neo-Gothic, oozing old-world charm, the interiors are full of brilliant, cutting-edge displays and new-age art installations - it's a juxtaposition of antiquity and modernity, perhaps, mirroring present-day France.