75 years of the Modern Art Museum of Céret

The Museum of Modern Art in Céret celebrates its 75th anniversary by highlighting the relationships it has built with artists over decades, through an exhibition that reviews this history of exchanges, donations and commissions that have defined its identity. Under the title 75 years of friendship: artists and the museum, the exhibition explores how this space has become a meeting point and collaboration between creators of several generations.

The exhibition, which can be visited from April 12 to November 16, 2025, is curated by Jean-Roch Dumont Saint Priest , director of the museum, and Aude Marchand , head of collections, and invites us to take a journey through more than sixty pieces by fundamental artists such as Pablo Picasso , Marc Chagall and Henri Matisse . These great names have not only been exhibited at the museum, but in many cases they actively contributed to it, with works that they donated to the institution during the 1950s. Along with them, other key figures such as Christine Boumeester and Valentine Prax left their mark, helping to consolidate a project that, from its inception, has been conceived as a platform for creation.

La chèvre à l'ombrelle, Marc Chagall (1942). J. Gibernau/Studio Pyrénées © Adagp, Paris, 2025

In the 1970s, artists such as Claude Viallat and Vincent Bioulès established a special and long-lasting bond with the museum, at a time when few institutions supported young creators in the south of France and Catalonia. Over time, new generations of artists have continued this dialogue, bringing contemporary perspectives and broadening the link between creators and institution. The exhibition also includes pieces by Anne-Marie Pêcheur and Hervé Fischer , as well as commissions by Toni Grand and Tom Carr , large-format works that had not been exhibited in more than thirty years.

Saint-François, le Cantique des Créatures IV, Vincent Bioulès (1980). R. Townsend © Adagp, Paris, 2025

On the other hand, the museum's relationship with artists and its link with the Mediterranean continue to be fundamental elements of its identity. In this context, creators such as Riera i Aragó and Alain Clément have developed projects that reinforce the museum as a true artistic laboratory.

This retrospective will not only celebrate the museum's past and history, but will also reaffirm its role as a singular center within the contemporary art landscape.

Sense títol, Claude Viallat (1992). J. Gibernau/Studio Pyrénées © Adagp, Paris, 2025