The Bonnat-Helleu Museum in Bayonne, France, has finally reopened its doors to the public after an extensive 14-year renovation and expansion project. The museum, which art critic Pierre Rosenberg once considered "the most beautiful collection between Paris and Madrid," closed in 2011 to undergo a complete transformation that would modernize the institution while preserving its historic character.

The ambitious renovation and extension project was entrusted to the French architectural firm BLP (Brochet-Lajus-Pueyo), which made it a priority to reintroduce natural light into the original three-story building designed by Charles Planckaert in an eclectic style. "The goal was to open the museum to the city and make it more accessible to the public," explains Hélène Ferron, the museum's collections director. The renovation included the complete restoration of the patio's glass roof and the uncovering of a mosaic by Giandomenico Facchina.

Founded in 1891, the Bonnat-Helleu Museum owes its name to two painters, Léon Bonnat and Paul-César Helleu, whose successive bequests between 1921 and 2011 inspired similar generosity from collectors Antonin Personnaz (1936) and Jacques Petithory (1992). The museum, which houses nearly 2,500 pieces on deposit from the Louvre, now contains approximately 7,000 works including paintings, sculptures, drawings, and decorative arts objects spanning from antiquity to the 20th century.

As part of the expansion, the school that adjoined the museum's historic building was relocated by the city in 2018 to be transformed into an extension. This new space now houses a café, gift shop, storage areas, a restoration workshop, offices, exhibition spaces, a research center, and a study room dedicated to drawings. "Emotion is at the heart of the museum experience: we want the place to be welcoming, not intimidating," emphasizes Ferron.

This vision is reflected in the museum's thematic sections focusing on the representation of the human body, perspectives on others, and the expression of identities, complemented by accessible wall texts. The exhibition space has doubled from its previous 1,500 square meters. The visit begins on the ground floor and continues to the first floor of the historic building. A monumental staircase then leads to an intermediate level in the extension, featuring three galleries including a large loft lined with paintings hung edge-to-edge and equipped with a mezzanine.

The mezzanine provides access to the second floor, where Bayonne artists Léon Bonnat (1833-1922), Antonin Personnaz (1854-1936), and Paul-César Helleu (1859-1927) are honored. All rooms either open onto or overlook the patio. On each floor, a blank space invites visitors to step back and reflect on what they have seen.

The total project budget amounts to 29 million euros, with 14 million financed by the City of Bayonne and the remainder coming from patrons, the region, the department, and the state. An additional envelope of 4 million euros enabled the restoration of 1,300 works between 2022 and 2025. Among these, "The Bather" (1807) by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres has regained all its original brilliance. Signatures were discovered on paintings by El Greco, and pentimenti and overpainting were found in "Roman Charity" (c. 1626) by Simon Vouet.

With approximately 3,500 drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, and Paolo Veronese, the museum's graphic arts collection ranks among the most prestigious in the world. About fifty works on paper will be presented each quarter and replaced on rotation. The inaugural selection includes a missing fragment of a tripartite sheet by Théodore Géricault, acquired in 2023 to complete the two pieces already in the museum's possession. The permanent exhibition will be punctuated by "cubes," spaces primarily dedicated to drawings.

The Bonnat-Helleu Museum is deeply rooted in Bayonne's history, which saw the birth of a new generation of artists at the end of the 19th century. Many were trained by Léon Bonnat himself, including Marie Garay, whose portrait of her master will be displayed on the ground floor. "Female artists are among our priorities in terms of acquisition," states Ferron. The museum, which also preserves portraits of Bayonne captains and governors, has created a position for a territorial agent responsible for strengthening ties with rural audiences, local associations, and schools.

"All of our signage is in French, Basque, Gascon, Spanish, and English. For practical reasons, however, the labels will only be in French and Basque, the two languages most commonly spoken locally, but other translation solutions will be offered," Ferron explains. The museum's commitment to accessibility and cultural diversity reflects its ambition to serve both local communities and international visitors while showcasing one of France's most remarkable art collections.