Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Arp foundation, created by Marguerite Hagenbach (second wife of Jean Arp), was recognized as a public utility in 1979. It preserves the studio house built in 1927 by Sophie Taeuber in Clamart, where the two artists, major figures of Dadaism and Abstraction, lived and worked from 1929. This place became a space of creation and encounters for the artistic avant-gardes of the twentieth century, sheltering their works today in their original setting.

The museum, labeled "Musée de France" in 2004, also serves as a research centre for art historians and professionals. It maintains an exceptional collection, including 114 sculptures and 32 plaster reliefs by Jean Arp, confiscated in 1996 and deposited in 2006 by the Centre Pompidou. The foundation thus perpetuates the heritage of the two artists, offering an immersion in their creative universe.

Marguerite Hagenbach carried out this project according to the wishes of Jean Arp, expressed before his death in 1966, to spread their joint work. The house, designed by Sophie Taeuber, reflects their artistic ideas and today welcomes researchers, collectors and visitors. His interest lies in preserving a place of life and creation, where works interact with their intimate history.

In 2003, the plaster workshops were redesigned to display confiscated pieces, further enriching this heritage. The foundation embodies a consensus around the importance of sustaining this testimony of the avant-gardes, mixing emotion, pedagogy and artistic memory.

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