Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

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The Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille (Lille Palace of Fine Arts) is one of the largest museums in France, and the largest French museum outside of Paris.

It was one of the first museum built in France, established under the instructions of Napoléon Ier at the beginning of the XIX Century : The Chaptal decree of 1801 selects fifteen French cities (among which Lille) to receive the works seized in the churches and the conquered provinces. The painters Louis Joseph Watteau and François Watteau, known as the "Watteau of Lille", take a large part in the beginnings of the museum. Louis Joseph Watteau has made in 1795 the first inventory of the paintings confiscated during the Revolution. His son, François Watteau will be the deputy curator of the museum from 1808 to 1823.

At the beginning, the museum was located in the former Récollets church, the museum having been inaugurated in 1809. Then it was transferred to the Lille city hall. The construction of the current building started in 1885 under the direction of Géry Legrand, mayor of Lille, and it was completed in 1892. The architects were Bérard and Delmas from Paris. The building is located on the place de la République, in the center of the city, and is in Belle Époque style, across the préfecture of Lille. It was renovated during the 90s and reopened in 1997.

[edit] Gallery

Bateaux de pêche rentrant à Berck by Ludovic Napoléon, comte Lepic	Belisarius by Jacques-Louis David	L’Après-dîner à Ornans by Gustave Courbet	L'Ex-voto by Ulysse-Louis de Butin
Meuse River in Freyr by Gustave Courbet	Le Dénombrement de Bethléem by Pieter Brueghel the Younger	Houses of Parliament, London by Claude Monet	The Cows by Vincent van Gogh
The Feast of Herod by Donatello	Monument de la défense de Saint-Quentin by Louis-Ernest Barrias	Vierge au lait by Maître des Madones mosanes	Palais des Beaux-Arts