SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.- A distinguished collection of French paintings that has long drawn visitors to the Musée Fabre, Montpellier, France, will be on view in San Francisco for the final showing of a four-venue American tour. Seventy works, including 40 paintings, 20 drawings, and 6 sculptures by such illustrious artists as Gustave Courbet, Eugène Delacroix, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Jean-François Millet, Alexandre Cabanel, and Antoine-Louis Barye, among others, illustrate a pivotal moment in the development of European art as reflected in the taste of collector Alfred Bruyas and as embodied in the work of the artists whom he admired.

The title of the exhibition is derived from its centerpiece, Courbet’s The Meeting or Bonjour Monsieur Courbet, of 1854. Among the most famous pictures in French art, it celebrates the relationship between Courbet and visionary patron Alfred Bruyas (1821–1877), who assembled the collection on view. One of France’s foremost collectors of contemporary art of his day, Bruyas gave his collection in two stages in 1868 and 1876 to the Musée Fabre. Remarkable in and of itself, this gift was also one of the first philanthropic gifts to a French museum. An exceptional collector in a provincial setting, Bruyas challenged the Parisian dominance of the art world in France by bringing then-contemporary works to Montpellier and in asserting the importance of his own vision and collection.

Bruyas’s tastes encompassed romanticism as well as realism. He collected art that drew upon the French Academy as well as works that were then considered avant-garde. His impulse to showcase the best of French painting in Montpellier resulted in friendships with many of the renowned artists of his day.

FRAME (French Regional American Museums Exchange)
Bonjour Monsieur Courbert!: The Bruyas Collection from the Musée Fabre, Montpellier, is on tour in America under the auspices of FRAME. An innovative, international consortium to date of 18 French and American museums that was established in 1999, FRAME is seen as an agent of cultural exchange, whether preparing traveling exhibitions or promoting understanding and lasting friendships between the respective museum communities. FRAME co-founder Elizabeth Rohatyn says, “Since its establishment, the French Regional American Museum Exchange has brought hundreds of works of art as well as museum staff, to 18 French and American towns and cities for the benefit of the cultural communities in both countries. Bonjour Monsieur Courbet! is the largest project yet mounted in the United States, involving practically the entire membership of FRAME in its planning and execution.”

Member institutions include The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Dallas Museum of Art; The Cleveland Museum of Art; Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Portland Art Museum; The Saint Louis Art Museum; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; Yale University Art Gallery; and the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. The French museums are Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux; Musée Fabre; Musée de Grenoble; Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon; Musée d’art contemporain; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen; and Musées de Strasbourg.