Toulouse : the painter's tour

An itinerary that retraces the steps of toulouse-lautrec (albi) or ingres (montauban) and reveals some of the most beautiful french art collections through seven key stages.

1st day - toulouse  Toulouse or «the pink city» as it is also called is a town of brick, terracotta tiles and light, and has a large choice of museums housing rare and prestigious collections. A special mention for three of them here: the «Hôtel d'Assézat», the most beautiful townhouse in Toulouse housing the Bemberg Collection with its bronze Renaissance-period artefacts, paintings, works of art and 35 paintings by Bonnard. Also the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain) «Les Abattoirs» (former slaughter-house), beautifully located on the banks of the river Garonne. It retraces the history of painting, post-war to this day, through more than 2,000 works of art. And finally, the Augustinian Museum (Musée des Augustins), in the historical heart of the town in a remarkable conventual building which has housed paintings and sculptures since 1793, with a collection that now spans a period going all the way back to the Middle Ages up until the beginning of the 20th century.  An absolute must: the theatre curtain that Picasso painted specially for the 14th July 1936, called «La dépouille du Minotaure en costume d'Arlequin».

2nd day - castres  Castres, located between the «Sidobre» area and the «Montagne Noire» (Black Mountain), has completely renovated its man-made brick and sandstone architectural heritage spanning the river Agout. The old «Palais des Evêques» (Bishop's Palace) houses the Goya Museum boasting the largest collection of 14th century Spanish art after the Louvre Museum in Paris, including three masterpieces by Goya.

3rd day - albi  Albi deserves the title of «pink city» just as much as Toulouse does, bricks also being omnipresent in its architecture. On top of the charm of its old pedestrian areas, it also has exceptional monuments and works of art among which the «Musée Toulouse-Lautrec» housed in the sumptuous «Palais de la Berbie». The 1,000 or more works that are kept there make it the largest public collection in the world with 215 paintings and every one of the artist's posters.  Along with the works of Toulouse-Lautrec, you can also admire those of his contemporaries or friends such as Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, Suzanne Valadon and Paul Cérusier.

4th day - cordes du ciel  Located in one of the most beautiful Gothic houses in Cordes, the Yves Brayer Museum (1907-1990), boasts the works of one of the most influential 20th century figurative painters. Brayer had a passion for landscapes and light, still life painting, the scenery around Cordes, the Auvergne, Provence, the Camargue, Spain and Italy. A very representative collection of his works is to be found here in the museum.  The Cordes embroidery room: to be discovered at the same time as Brayer's paintings.

5th day - cahors  The Henri Martin Museum (1860-1943) was created in 1833 and is to be found in the old Bishop's Palace (Palais des Evêques). It presents the works of this Toulouse-born pointillist painter who drew his inspiration from the scenery around the Quercy area. Also visible there are temporary exhibitions devoted to contemporary photography, the notion of collections in general or certain major artists from the Lot region

6th day - montricoux  Located on the right bank, at the entrance of the gorge of the Aveyron, the «château de Montricoux» houses the Marcel-Lenoir Museum (born in 1872 in Montauban) devoted to one of the most influential figures of the Montparnasse set. The museum, bought especially by Claude Namy, an ocean-going captain, to house the artist's work for which he had a passion, has the largest collection of Marcel-Lenoir paintings in France.

7th day - montauban  Montauban is the mother of French southwestern «bastides» or fortified towns and the last stronghold of Protestantism. It is also the birthplace of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, the leader of the French Classical School. The Ingres Museum in the old Episcopal palace boast approximately twenty paintings and some 4,000 drawings.