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Key figures

Origin and history

The Musée des Avelines is located in the Brunet villa, built between 1928 and 1935 in Saint-Cloud by architect Louis Mourot for Alfred Daniel-Brunet, pharmaceutical industrialist and collector. Inspired by the Kerylos villa in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, this neoclassical building was designed to house the collections of its owner, including Empire furniture. After Alfred Daniel-Brunet's death in 1943, his widow handed over the villa to the city in 1979, which first used it as a cinematic setting before setting up the museum there in 1988.

The museum found its origins in 1927, when the city of Saint-Cloud acquired the collection of François Maindron, composed of engravings and local souvenirs. A first museum, dedicated to the art and history of Saint-Cloud, opened in 1930 as a town hall, but moved several times (house of André Chevrillon, attic of the Fuilleuse school) before settling permanently in the villa Brunet in 1988. The collections were enriched in 1969 with the donation of Charles Oulmont, a collection of symbolic works and art objects.

The villa, with its monumental atrium decorated with marbles and mosaics, was restored in 1986 by François Hacq to house the museum. In 2008-2009, two work campaigns modernize museography and rehabilitate the rotunda, which now houses a tea salon. The museum offers a four-theme course: the history of Saint-Cloud from Clodoald, the castle and its porcelain factory (1666-1766), local artists (Duval-Lecamus, Dantan, Régnault), and the donation of Oulmont, including works by Eugène Carrière.

Since its opening, the museum has organized two annual temporary exhibitions, combining local heritage and contemporary creation. He shares the Avelines Garden with the media library and the municipal conservatory. In 2017, the city published a book on the history of Saint-Cloud illustrated by its collections. Access to the museum and its exhibitions is free, with a view to cultural democratization.

The architecture of the villa Brunet, with its rotunda at 15 meters high and its decorations inspired by antiquity (columns in false marble, mosaics, statue of the Dancing Fauna), makes it a remarkable setting. Although some of the original elements disappeared, such as the golden friezes or painted ceilings, the 2009 restoration partially restored the spirit of the place, where Alfred Daniel-Brunet received the All-Paris in a luxurious setting.

The museum's collections cover several fields: fine arts (paintings, sculptures, drawings), decorative arts (porcelain of Saint-Cloud, furniture), photography, and local archives. The flagship pieces include views of the Seine by 19th-century artists, memories of the castle destroyed in 1870, and works related to the Belle Époque, such as those by Gaston La Touche. The museum also maintains archives of the universal exhibitions held in Saint-Cloud.

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