The art of passing on. The Antoine Béal collection

Showing private collections, from museum donors, is one of the key axes of the exhibition program at the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans. After those devoted to the Motais de Narbonne (see article) and to Louis-Antoine Prat, highly successful but showing works already exhibited elsewhere (including the Louvre), a completely new collection is being presented today. Antoine Béal, highly regarded by all lovers of French painting, is not, however, unknown. He has made a specialty of buying works often with the idea of offering the painting to a museum, subject to usufruct. Without children, he can thus enrich public collections while enjoying the work until his passing, which one hopes will be as late as possible.

Pierre Rosenberg, who wrote the preface to the catalogue, knows collectors well, particularly donor-collectors. He is one himself, among the best, as evidenced by the Musée du Grand Siècle under construction. He is also the one who theorizes about collectors, explaining that there are all types. Antoine Béal therefore belongs to the donor category. He is also among those who generously show the works they buy: once you know him, it is very easy to see his collection. We were fortunate to admire it twice in his Paris apartment, where the walls disappear under the accumulation of paintings. To the point that one wonders how he can continue to acquire, given the limited space. But all true collectors know: space is not really a problem, and almost never a good reason not to buy the work they absolutely must have. True collectors are magicians.