Phone +33 2 33 23 39 33 | Founded 1835 | |
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Address Centre culturel Le Quasar, Esplanade de la Laïcité, Cherbourg-Octeville, 50100 Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France Hours Closing soon · 10AM–12:30PM, 2–6PMWednesday10AM–12:30PM, 2–6PMThursday10AM–12:30PM, 2–6PMFriday10AM–12:30PM, 2–6PMSaturday1–6PMSunday1–6PMMondayClosedTuesday10AM–12:30PM, 2–6PMSuggest an edit Artwork Still Life with Flowers, Patroclus Similar Musée de la Libération, Cotentin Peninsula, Basilique Sainte‑Trinité de Cherb, Cité de la Mer, public Garden | ||
Inauguration du quasar r ouverture du mus e thomas henry
The Musée des beaux-arts Thomas Henry is a museum at Cherbourg-Octeville (Manche) with around 300 artworks, mainly paintings from the 15th to 19th centuries. It has been rated as the third most important collection in Normandy.
Contents
History
It was formed after a series of anonymous donations to the city between 1831 and 1835, totalling 163 paintings and later revealed to have been made by Thomas Henry, town councillor and art critic - having lost his two sons, he wanted to allow the city's young people to gain an education in art. These young people included Jean-François Millet, who copied paintings in the museum.
In 1835, a museum was formed from these 163 paintings, including works by Italian 'primitives' such as Fra Angelico (The Conversion of Saint Augustine) and Filippo Lippi (The Burial). The foundational collection was completed by gifts from other inhabitants of Cherbourg, including capitaine Troude (1844), Armand Le Véel (a sculptor and curator of the museum) and the Ono family (who gave Millet's work in 1915). From 1965, the city decided to supplement private donations and state funding for acquisitions, in favor of the Millet fund.
Initially housed in the Hôtel de ville, the museum re-opened in a dedicated cultural centre in 1983, alongside the bibliothèque municipale Jacques-Prévert, on the site of the city's former grain Halles. It received 30,554 visitors in 2009, compared to 18,957 visitors in 2007.
Collection
The museum's collection is wide-ranging and it has been nicknamed the 'little Louvre'. It notably includes a large number of paintings and sculptures by local artists. The most important works include:
Temporary exhibitions
The musée Thomas-Henry has held a biennial exhibition of comic art since 2000 :