A new vision. Opportunities for the future
- A Holistic examination. Most artist’s museums preserve what seems to be a heterogeneous collection of objects (archives, art works, personal collections). Far from being the unavoidable consequence of a hybrid institution, this diversity bears witness to the rich contents of the artist’s museum, as well to its great unity. Any archival material reinforces our ability to construct new images of the artist; it should even be understood as a component of the artist’s corpus; this material may not be as conspicuous as an art work, but it documents the artistic production and demonstrates its unity as well as its coherence. For most artists, past creations also form an archive upon which they draw while creating a new art work. Therefore, the boundaries between the different categories of objects within the artist’s museum often shift over the course of time; as a consequence, we should not draw up an absolute categorization of objects, emphasizing the distinct status of, for example, art works, letters, drawings, manuscript and published texts.
- A laboratory for art history. The artist’s museum offers an ideal opportunity to work at the junction between art, the humanities (in their broadest understanding) and even the pure sciences. Our ambition is that of providing a laboratory that will be suitable for the exploration of new visions of art and new models of art history, whenever we endeavor to explore the corpus of an artist. We hope to take an active part in the “Copernican revolution” that has had an impact on the artist’s museum in our time. When artist’s museums were created, from the beginning of the 19th century onward, they played a leading role in the genesis, in the dissemination and in the survival of the artist’s myth. The creator himself occupied the center of an all-encompassing vision of art and of the world. Today, our task is no longer that of furthering the life of these mythologies, but on the contrary, that of connecting the artist and his/her creations to a much broader context. Paradoxically, the very institutions which were founded in order to support an artistic myth now provide us with the best material with which to subject these myths to the most rigorous analysis possible and to disentangle the artist’s myth from the actual context of the artist’s production. The artist’s archives thereby play a capital role by documenting our critical outlook on past artistic mythologies; thanks to them, we can the better understand how these mythologies were constructed. At the same time, such artistic myths form an integral part of the artist’s persona, and they have therefore left their mark on many art works – this phenomenon can only be analyzed in depth in the artist’s museum. The role of the monographic museum is to place the artistic myth into a historical perspective.
- A laboratory for public. In the artist’s museum, the public has access to the creative process and the artist’s presence. The artist’s museum offers its visitors a very special experience; it highlights the human dimension of art. Since they were founded, the artist’s museums aimed at arousing the visitor’s empathy – the visitor could almost enter into the body and mind of the artist, by dint of entering his or her abode or studio, or by seeing at close hand some objects that had belonged to the creator. Empathy and immersion have always been powerful tools; they are still highly adapted to the task of bringing the artist’s history back to life – employed with skill, knowledge and discernment, they remain remarkably effective. In the artist’s museum, the distinction between private and public space is suddenly blurred. An experience of this kind is unique.