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Sights

Soulages Museum

Established: 2014

Key facts: With works featured in nearly 90 museums, Pierre Soulages has produced over 1,500 paintings on canvas and held countless exhibitions across every continent. A leading figure in abstract art, he was arguably the world’s best-known contemporary painter until his death in 2022. It was in Rodez, his hometown, that he and his wife Colette made two donations totalling nearly 500 works. A dynamic museum housed in a building designed and conceived by Roques and Passelac, associate architects, in Narbonne, the museum features a vast exhibition hall of national and international significance, showcasing Soulages’ early works, the delicate ‘Brous de noix’, his prints, preparatory works for the stained-glass windows at Conques, as well as paintings on canvas, including the ‘Outrenoir’.

Key facts: the museum welcomes nearly 140,000 visitors a year.

Designation: Musée de France

Pierre Soulages

Pierre Soulages was born on 24 December 1919 in Rodez. From a very young age, he was drawn to Romanesque art and prehistory. At the age of 18, he travelled to Paris to prepare for the entrance examination to the École des Beaux-Arts. He was admitted, but, disappointed by the mediocrity of the teaching, he refused to enrol and returned to Rodez. During his stay in Paris, he frequented the Louvre and saw exhibitions by Cézanne and Picasso, which were revelations to him. Demobilised in 1941, he went to Montpellier and was a regular visitor to the Musée Fabre. A period of hiding began, during which he stopped painting. It was not until 1946 that he was able to devote all his time to painting. He then settled in the Paris suburbs. His canvases, dominated by black, were abstract and sombre. They immediately attracted attention, so different were they from the semi-figurative and highly colourful post-war painting. He found a studio in Paris, on Rue Schoelcher, near Montparnasse. In 1948, he took part in exhibitions in Paris and across Europe, notably the ‘Französische abstrakte malerei’ exhibition held in several German museums. He was by far the youngest member of this small group of painters, which included the early masters of abstract art.

From the 1950s onwards, he exhibited regularly in New York, where his works were acquired by the Guggenheim Museum and MoMA. Today, Pierre Soulages is represented in over 110 museums across every continent, with more than 230 paintings. From 1987 to 1994, he created the 104 stained-glass windows for the abbey church at Conques, in his native Aveyron.

The Soulages Museum in Rodez was inaugurated in May 2014 with the opening of the first temporary exhibition, Outrenoir in Europe: Museums and Foundations.

In tribute to the artist on the centenary of his birth in 2019, numerous events are being organised in France and abroad, alongside a host of book publications, radio programmes and television broadcasts.

He died in October 2022 at the age of nearly 103.

Notre-Dame Cathedral

Construction: 1277 to 1542

Style: Gothic

Features: Towering over the town and the surrounding landscape, the lofty silhouette of the cathedral (87 metres) and its freestanding bell tower is the iconic feature of Rodez’s heritage. Construction, which began in 1277, continued for nearly three centuries, yet the building displays a beautiful sense of unity thanks to the pink sandstone used. From the Rayonnant and Flamboyant Gothic styles through to the Renaissance, the cathedral showcases the finest artistic achievements of each era. The building is distinguished by its fortress-like west façade, which was once part of the city walls, as well as by its bell tower.

The bell tower is the work of the Rouergue architect Antoine Salvanh. Standing 87 metres tall, this delicately crafted tower was erected between 1513 and 1526 at the request of Bishop François d’Estaing. Notable features inside include: the richly decorated choir stalls (15th century), crafted by the workshop of the master sculptor André Sulpice; the monumental altarpiece in the chapel known as the Gaillard Roux Chapel (or Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre) and its sculpted group depicting the Entombment (16th century); the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament (16th century), surmounted by a gallery and adorned with a coffered vault; the case of the great organ (17th century);

Distinguishing features: in 2002, the Historic Monuments department sought to provide the cathedral with stained-glass windows befitting the building and commissioned Stéphane Belzère to design them; he created the seven stained-glass windows in the chancel between 2002 and 2007.

Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1862

Fenaille Museum and Hôtel de Jouéry

Construction: 16th century for the Hôtel de Jouéry. The museum opened in 1937.

Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1944

Style: medieval and Renaissance.

History and features: A pioneer of the oil industry and a great art lover, Maurice Fenaille donated the Hôtel de Jouéry in 1929 to house the Rouergue Museum of Archaeology and History, founded 170 years earlier by the Société des Lettres de l’Aveyron. The museum owes its international renown to its exceptional collection of menhir statues, carved nearly 5,000 years ago.

The so-called ‘Maison d’Armagnac’

Built: between 1525 and 1531.

Style: Renaissance.

Features: The mansion known as Maison d’Armagnac is the most remarkable example of Renaissance civil architecture in Rodez, characterised by its curved corbelling, the décor featuring numerous carved medallions, and the Annunciation on the façade. It bears witness to the economic vitality of Rodez’s merchants, to whom the patron, Hugues Daulhon, belonged.

Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1862.

Sights

Episcopal City

The Episcopal City is a brick-built urban complex covering 19.47 hectares and comprising: Sainte-Cécile Cathedral, Palais de la Berbie (Toulouse-Lautrec Museum), the Collegiate Church of Saint-Salvi and its cloister, the Pont-Vieux (Old Bridge) and the banks of the River Tarn.

St Cecile’s Cathedral

Built: 1282.

Style: Gothic.

History and features: Albi Cathedral is the largest brick cathedral in the world, measuring 113 metres long by 35 metres wide. An unrivalled monument, it asserts its grandeur through a style typical of south-western France: Southern Gothic. Perched on one of the city’s hills, as if on a plinth, Albi’s Sainte-Cécile Cathedral stands as a testament to the Christian faith in the wake of the Cathar heresy. Its unique style is enhanced by its interior décor, a veritable museum of Christian art. It is the only cathedral in Europe whose walls and vaults are entirely painted, covering a surface area of approximately 18,500 m². One cannot help but be struck by the oldest painted scene of the Last Judgement dating from the Middle Ages, covering an area of over 200 m². It presents a magnificent narrative in which heaven, earth and hell are depicted. The rood screen, a veritable lacework of white stone, encloses the chancel and is adorned with over 270 statues carved by Burgundian masters. The Italian Renaissance-style vault was completed in just three years, from 1509 to 1512. It depicts the celestial vault; the mineral-based blue colour and the thirty chapels, all of the same design, are also remarkable.

A distinctive feature: the organ case by Christophe Moucherel dates from the 18th century. Its extraordinary dimensions (16.40-m wide by 15.30-m high) and the variety of its decorations rank it amongst the finest in France.

Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1862. UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Palais de la Berbie and Toulouse-Lautrec Museum

Construction: 13th century.

History and features: The fortress is a testament to the temporal and spiritual power of the bishops of Albi who built it. The height and thickness of the walls attest to its defensive and deterrent role. Over the centuries, various alterations have transformed it into a veritable pleasure palace. Its defensive character is reinforced by fortifications and the construction of a tower, Tour Mage, an enormous keep fifty-metres high, flanked by four corner towers. In the 17th century, the fortifications were dismantled and a gateway was opened onto the town towards Quai Choiseul, which leads down to the Pont-Vieux (Old Bridge). Galleries, grand salons, a library and terraces were added to enhance the complex. A French-style garden, dominated by a parapet walk, replaced the parade ground.

Current use: the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum houses over a thousand works, including the 31 famous posters, all preserved within this impressive fortress. Early paintings, major portraits, scenes of brothels, posters and lithographs make up an exceptional collection. Every stage of his prolific output is represented.

Listing: UNESCO World Heritage Site. Listed as a Historic Monument in 1862.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Henri-Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa was born on 24 November 1864 in Albi into a family of provincial nobility. Lautrec suffered from a congenital bone condition that confined him to bed for many months. Introduced to drawing by his father and uncles, he spent his days sketching, and later painting. This interest developed into a true vocation. From 1882 onwards, Lautrec completed his training in the academic studios of Léon Bonnat, and later Fernand Cormon, both located in Montmartre. There he discovered the bohemian life of Montmartre, which provided him with his inspiration. Outside Cormon’s studio, he explored other aesthetic trends then in vogue and turned towards modernity by illustrating scenes from everyday life. A portraitist of genius, he immortalised the figures of the stars of Parisian nightlife, from Aristide Bruant to Jane Avril, and from Yvette Guilbert to Loïe Füller. A regular at brothels, he focused on the simple, everyday reality of prostitutes. Theatre, Comédie-Française, vaudeville and avant-garde performances inspired his programmes and set designs, fuelling his fascination with the human comedy. An innovator in many fields, he revolutionised illustration and the applied arts. The thirty-one posters he designed between 1891 and 1900 stand out for their power and their masterful simplification of the image, establishing him as a forerunner of 20th-century poster art. His lithographic output also includes 361 prints that highlight the expressiveness of his line and his virtuosity as a draughtsman. Lautrec lived his life to the rhythm of his creativity. His relentless work, but also his pleasures and excessive drinking, gradually took their toll on his health. He died at the Malromé estate, owned by his mother, in Gironde, on 9 September 1901.

A close friend of writer Tristan Bernard, director of the Buffalo velodrome, Toulouse-Lautrec was passionate about cycling and attended the biggest track cycling events, which inspired his drawings. In 1896, he created a poster for the Simpson bicycle chain that has remained famous to this day.

Collegiate Church of Saint-Salvi and its cloister

Construction: from 1057.

Style: composite.

History and features: Saint-Salvi Collegiate Church, dedicated to the man who held the city’s first episcopal see between 474 and 584, bears witness to numerous alterations, resulting in a composite architectural style that blends Romanesque and Gothic elements, as well as stone and brick. The cloister, rebuilt in 1270 by Vidal Malvezi, was damaged during the French Revolution. Parts of the gallery were sold as national property. Only the southern wing remains. Carved capitals, arches and colonnades bear witness to Romanesque and Gothic art. The ‘herbal’ garden makes it a protected green oasis and a true haven of peace in the heart of the old town.

Listing: Listed as a Historic Monument in 1846 and 1922. UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Historic Centre

Maison du Vieil Alby: a medieval half-timbered house with an open attic, Soleilhou (which hosts exhibitions), and half-timbered houses (14th–15th centuries). More than 20 private mansions, former residences of Renaissance pastel artists (15th–17th centuries), including Hôtel du Bosc (birthplace of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec), Hôtel Saint-Hippolyte and Hôtel de Martin (Town Hall).