A Divisionist painting acquired by Orléans

8/3/23 - Acquisition - Orléans, Musée des Beaux-Arts - Acquired from the Terrades gallery in Paris, the painting by Orléans-born Louis Bouglé (ill. 1) has taken its place on level -1 of the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans. Linked to the city by its creator but also by its subject, The Loire in Orléans, it fills out the 1870-1940 rooms, currently being redeveloped, with an early Divisionist work, as Post-Impressionism and Impressionism are not represented in the museum’s collections. For the past few days, the Portrait of Louis Bouglé by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (ill. 2), on loan from the Musée d’Orsay as part of the celebrations to mark the 150th anniversary of Impressionism, has been on show alongside it. Alongside the exhibition Paris 1874. Inventing Impressionism, which opens at the end of the month, the Paris museum has agreed to loan one hundred and seventy-eight Impressionist, "pre-", "para-" or "post-" Impressionist works to thirty-four museums in thirteen regions. In addition to the portrait by Toulouse-Lautrec, the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans will be accepting a painting by Auguste Renoir, Julie Manet au chat. While the latter will be on display for three months, Portrait de Louis Bouglé will remain on show for a year alongside the newly-acquired landscape.

1. Louis Bouglé (1864-1924)
La Loire à Orléans, 1891
Huile sur toile - 35 x 27,5 cm
Orléans, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Photo : Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans

See the image in its page

As stated in the museum’s notes [1] and the Terrades gallery, Louis Bouglé, better known as L.B. Spoke, has gone down in history for the decisive role he played in the development of cycling at the end of the nineteenth century - racing cyclist, trainer, columnist, French representative of the English manufacturer of the Simpson chain and owner of a major cycle shop on Boulevard Haussmann in Paris - more than for his artistic output, which remains little known. Few of his works have been identified…