A small French village in the Pyrenees has transformed into a cultural hub thanks to the generous donation of three houses from renowned painter Paul Ambille and his sister Paulette. The village of Arette, home to 1,000 residents in the Barétous valley in Béarn, now boasts a modern cultural facility that serves the entire region.
The Ambille Cultural Center was inaugurated with great ceremony on Friday, August 29, featuring a comprehensive 500-square-meter facility. The center houses a media library, three rehearsal rooms for the intermunicipal music school complete with an auditorium, and an exhibition hall currently dedicated to displaying paintings by Paul Ambille. The project became reality through the vision of artist Paul Ambille and his sister Paulette, who managed his affairs, utilizing two of the three houses they bequeathed to the municipality.
Paul Ambille was a world-renowned figurative painter who trained at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris. His distinguished career peaked when he won the prestigious Grand Prix de Rome in 1955, subsequently serving as a resident at Villa Medici for four years. Ambille passed away in 2010 at the age of 80 and is buried in Arette, where his family originated.
"The exhibition is beautiful, I was moved when we hung it up," shared Adèle Daubon, who manages the new establishment. Daubon leads a team of about twelve people who coordinate the center's activities. The facility has been thoughtfully designed with display walls throughout, particularly in the auditorium, to accommodate temporary exhibitions featuring local artists and thematic displays. "We have put up exhibition panels everywhere, especially in the auditorium to host temporary exhibitions of local artists," Daubon explained. "We're also developing thematic presentations. For example, we're preparing a photo exhibition on the flora of Barétous."
The cultural center offers an ambitious program designed to serve the broader valley community. Planned activities include artistic and digital workshops, storytelling creation sessions, game spaces, musical instrument discovery programs, film screenings, and lectures. "It's ambitious for a small municipality, but we have good hopes of reaching the entire valley, and a bit beyond," Daubon commented, expressing optimism about the center's regional impact.
The newly inaugurated facility is connected to the public reading network of Haut-Béarn, which operates under the Community authority. This connection ensures that Arette's cultural center integrates seamlessly with existing regional cultural infrastructure, maximizing resources and programming opportunities for residents throughout the area. The center represents not only a tribute to Paul Ambille's artistic legacy but also a significant investment in the cultural future of this Pyrenean community.
