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Origin and history

The Bonnat-Helleu Museum, the Bayonne Museum of Fine Arts, was founded thanks to the legacy of the painter Léon Bonnat in 1891. The latter offered his hometown some of his works as well as an exceptional collection of paintings, drawings and sculptures, acquired between 1880 and 1900. This legacy marked the beginning of the museum's reputation, reinforced by subsequent donations such as those of Antonin Personnaz in 1936 and Paulette Howard-Johnston in 1988 and 2010, enriching the collections of Impressionist works and Paul Helleu.

The building, designed by architect Charles Planckaert, was erected between 1896 and 1901 after the fire of the town hall of Bayonne in 1889, which destroyed archives and municipal collections. Initially versatile (archives, library, museum, museum), it was entirely dedicated to Fine Arts in 1976. Closed in 2011 for renovation, the museum reopened in 2025 after an extension doubling its surface, integrating the former Petit Bayonne primary school and modernizing its spaces.

The collections, among the richest in France, have nearly 7,000 works, including 2,500 in the Louvre. They cover European schools (Italian, Flemish, Spanish, English, French) from the 14th to the 19th century, with major pieces from Greco, Goya, Rubens, Rembrandt, Dürer, Delacroix and Degas. The 19th-century French painting is particularly well represented, with works by Corot, Courbet, Ingres, and Bonnat himself.

The museum also houses an exceptional collection of drawings, including leaves by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, or Watteau, as well as sculptures by Barye, Falguière, and medieval works such as the statues of the Virgin and Christ of the Master of Rieux. These ensembles, supplemented by bequests such as those of Jacques Petithory (1992) or Carlotta Edwina Gray Hadley (2021), make the museum a must for the study of Fine Arts.

Since 2023, a partnership with the Louvre has strengthened its exhibition programming. Despite its prolonged closure for work (2011-2025), the works remained accessible to researchers, highlighting its scientific and cultural role in New Aquitaine.

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