The museum
Breadcrumb
The museum of Fine Arts is located in the heart of the medieval castle, where a sculpture park is standing. The extent of its collection in terms of 16th and 17th century European painting is remarkable in France. The museum offers a panorama of creation from the 15th century to the present day, gathers an exceptional collection of prints, creates 4 to 6 exhibitions and programs more than one hundred appointments per year.
Remarkable collections
The musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen presents a vast panorama of creation from the 15th to the 21st century. It preserves one of the richest collections of paintings in region museums for the 16th and 17th centuries Italian (Cosimo Tura, Giordano, Guerchin, Perugin, Tintoretto, Veronese), French (Champaigne, Poussin, Vouet), Flemish and Dutch (Bruegel, Rubens, Ruysdael, Seghers, Van Der Weyden).
The 18th century is represented by French and Italian portrait painters and landscape artists (Boucher, Rigaud, Tournières, Tiepolo...) while the 19th century is showcased through romantic and realistic painters (Courbet, Delacroix, Géricault) or Corot and the landscapers of Barbizon.
Normandy as a place of inspiration is also present thanks to Boudin, Monet, and then beyond impressionism : Bonnard, Dufy, Marquet, Van Dongen, Vuillard,...
The 20th century opens with French cubism, presented since 2017 in a new room (Gleizes, Metzinger, Ozenfant...).
The contemporary collections formed from the beginning of the 70s and continued over the decades thanks to a proactive acquisition policy, are spread around great international artists: Barcelò, Delprat, Desgrandchamps, Frydman, Mitchell, Music, Pincemin, Plensa, Rebeyrolle, Reigl, Sicilia, Soulages...
The Prints Room is home to the exceptional Mancel Fund, a collection of over 50,000 prints, some of which are presented in temporary exhibitions.
In numbers
The permanent collections on display, more than 300 art works, spread over 4 levels and 2000 m2.
On the ground floor (+ a higher level) on 1000 m2, are presented the oldest works (from the 15th to the 17th century): 185 paintings and an enamelled ceramic altarpiece.
On the ground floor, a selection of art objects are added to the 65 paintings collection and sculptures from the 18th to the 20th century.
At -1 level, the contemporary collection showcases about 70 works (out of the 250 existing ones).
Exhibitions open to all eras
Each year, the museum offers between 6 to 8 exhibitions going back and forth with ancient or contemporary art, painting, drawing, print, photography, sparking many occasions to encounter each other. For each exhibit, the cultural program invites to dialogue by its policy of opening the museum doors to other various artforms: cinema, literature, music, theatre, dance...
Accessible to all!
The museum, which is free every first weekend of the month and all year round for visitors under 26 years old, invites families (children 3 years old and up) to join exclusive events such as vernissages, active visits, nocturnal visits and creative workshops.
It welcomes artists in residencies, solicits exchanges with live performances, cinema, literature, cuisine...
It custom creates custom festive nights with live models, speed datings, student nights, Neighbors’ Days, games, balls, DJ sets, concerts...
The sculpture park
The museum at the heart of Caen’s castle
2024-25 Program
The museum within the city
During the summer of 2021 which followed lockdown, the museum collections took over the streets ; reproductions of artworks were exhibited in Caen’s neighborhoods.