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Origin and history

The Museum of Fine Arts in Dunkirk originated in 1829, but was inaugurated only in 1841 in the old courthouse of the city. From its creation, it gathers eclectic collections: natural history, models of boats, extra-European objects reported by sailors, and works of art from revolutionary seizures, including the Abbey of Saint-Winoc in Bergues. These state deposits and private bequests, like those of Adolphe Bray (1881) and Benjamin Coffin (1887), enrich his holdings in Dutch and Flemish paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Bombed during the Second World War in May-June 1940, the museum was rebuilt and reopened in 1973, adopting modern architecture. It is distinguished by its encyclopedic vocation, inherited from the Enlightenment, with more than 10,000 specimens of natural history, archaeological objects (including a golden mummy), and local or exotic collections. Its eclecticism reflects Dunkirk's openness to the world, linked to its maritime and commercial past.

Closed on 1 April 2015, the museum has to merge with the port museum in the Citadelle district, on the site of the tobacco warehouse. This project aims to modernize its museum and unify the collections, while highlighting its artistic and historical heritage, from Italian paintings to ocean objects, to a fund dedicated to contemporary art from the 1950s to the 1980s.

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