Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

Dunkirk's Place of Art and Contemporary Action (LAAC) comes from the initiative of Gilbert Delaine, a passionate engineer of contemporary art. In the 1970s, after discovering a work by Ladislas Kijno, he founded in 1974 the contemporary art association to form a municipal collection. Thanks to the Malraux law and the patronage of local industrialists, it gathers nearly 900 works by 1982, exchanging purchases and donations with artists such as Vasarely, Manessier or Arman. The museum, designed by architect Jean Willerval and landscape architect Gilbert Samel, opens in December 1982 in the heart of a sculpture garden inaugurated in 1980.

LAAC closed in 1997 due to political conflicts and technical problems (water damage, insurance). During its closing, the collection was enriched to cover art from 1945 to the present, with loans from FRAC Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Centre Pompidou and Musée de Lille. He reopened in 2005 after renovation by Benoît Grafteaux and Richard Klein, who modernized lighting, acoustics and created a graphic arts firm. The building, square and asymmetric, plays with natural light and now houses more than 2,000 works, including major CoBrA pieces, lyrical abstraction and new realistic ones.

The LAAC's permanent collection includes paintings, sculptures, drawings and photographs, with remarkable ensembles such as Circus de Karel Appel, works by Andy Warhol (Car Crash), and sculptures by Arman and Niki de Saint Phalle. The sculpture garden, integrated with the harbour site, dialogue with the mineral architecture of the museum, covered with white ceramic. The LAC is distinguished by its art-oriented cultural policy of 1945–1980, complemented by temporary exhibitions and contemporary orders.

Gilbert Delaine, the project's central figure, built this collection without initial expertise, guided by favourites and a network of artists. His approach, combining industrial patronage and donations, brought together various works, reflecting the great artistic movements of the second half of the twentieth century. The museum, labeled Musée de France, remains a unique place to explore modern and contemporary art in the Hauts-de-France, in synergy with the FRAC Grand Large.

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