Questions / Answers

The Musée GRATALOUP will close its doors to the public on November 11, 2026, following the decision by the City of Chevreuse not to renew the agreement granting the Les Amis du Musée GRATALOUP association use of the Prieuré Saint-Saturnin.

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The City has justified this decision by its intention to launch a new call for projects aimed at defining a new “cultural, heritage and civic” programme for the site.

This is indeed the question we are most frequently asked when we explain the reason given by the City for not renewing the agreement.

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The Musée GRATALOUP was clearly a cultural project, through its contemporary art programme, its eleven exhibitions, its invited artists and its many mediation initiatives.

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It was also a heritage project, bringing the Prieuré Saint-Saturnin to life, enabling the public to discover the stained-glass windows created by GRATALOUP for the chapel, and forming part of the forty-year history between the artist and Chevreuse.

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Finally, it had a genuine civic dimension, through its openness to all audiences, its commitment to education and transmission, its programmes for families and children, and its contribution to the cultural life of the area. This commitment was notably recognised through the Musée Solidaire label awarded by the Département des Yvelines.

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This is precisely why the decision to seek a new “cultural, heritage and civic” programme for the Prieuré is so difficult to understand: these three dimensions had already been at the heart of the Musée GRATALOUP project for five years.

Absolutely not.

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The Museum is closing as a result of a decision concerning the future use of the Prieuré Saint-Saturnin, not because of its results.

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Since opening in March 2022, it has welcomed nearly 10,000 visitors and presented eleven exhibitions, hosted leading contemporary artists and developed an ambitious yet accessible approach to cultural mediation.

On the contrary, the closure comes at a time when the Museum is experiencing its strongest momentum, with growing visitor numbers, new institutional partnerships and increasing recognition of its cultural work.

We naturally respect the right of the City of Chevreuse, as owner of the Prieuré Saint-Saturnin, to decide the future of the site.

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However, we do not understand this decision and we do not agree with it.

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It comes at a time when the Musée GRATALOUP was experiencing strong growth, with increasing visitor numbers and new partnerships and institutional recognition reinforcing the work already undertaken.

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It also brings to an end a project that, after five years of operation, had established its place both within the Prieuré and among its public.

We therefore acknowledge the City’s decision while clearly expressing our disagreement with this choice.

Because GRATALOUP’s history in Chevreuse began long before the Museum opened.

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GRATALOUP chose Chevreuse in 1986 as the location for his home and studio, dividing his creative life between Paris and the valley. The house, where he created several of his major series, has been listed in the Île-de-France Cultural Heritage Inventory since 2020.

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In 1991, he took part in the first Musicales de Chevreuse and presented his Stations of the Cross at the Saint-Martin Church. In 2005, he inaugurated the Séchoir à Peaux, the town’s new cultural venue. In 2011, he created the three contemporary stained-glass windows for the Prieuré Saint-Saturnin, permanently inscribing his work into the town’s heritage.

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In 2022, the opening of the Musée GRATALOUP in the same Prieuré naturally extended this history. That same year, a few months after his death, his Stations of the Cross returned to the Saint-Martin Church, thirty-one years after they were first presented there.

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Deeply attached to Chevreuse, GRATALOUP had also chosen the town as his final resting place. His grave is now located in the municipal cemetery and is adorned with a mosaic inspired by his work, designed by his wife Milena in collaboration with Florence Sensino, a mosaic artist and long-standing collaborator of GRATALOUP.

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The Museum was therefore one part of an exceptional artistic, heritage and human history built over forty years.

The City of Chevreuse has had five years of the Musée GRATALOUP’s operation in which to assess the project developed by our association in practice: its results, visitor numbers, programme and cultural contribution to the town.

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It also has forty years of history from which to assess GRATALOUP’s particular place in Chevreuse.​

Under these circumstances, we find it difficult to see what a new application could enable the City to assess that has not already been demonstrated over all these years.

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If five years of the Museum’s activity and forty years of ties between GRATALOUP and Chevreuse have not led the City to wish to continue this history at the Prieuré Saint-Saturnin, it seems inconsistent to us to seek recognition of that same project today through a new call for projects.

No. We have chosen not to initiate legal proceedings, even though the circumstances in which this decision was handled, as well as some of the arguments put forward to justify it, could have led us to consider such a course of action.

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This choice therefore does not mean that we approve of the way the situation was handled.

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It reflects a clear decision: we prefer to devote our energy and the association’s resources to GRATALOUP’s work rather than to legal proceedings against the City of Chevreuse.

No. The three contemporary stained-glass windows created by GRATALOUP in 2011 remain an integral part of the chapel of the Prieuré Saint-Saturnin, of which they are a permanent feature.

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However, their physical presence alone is not enough to ensure that their meaning and history are passed on. Before the Musée GRATALOUP opened in 2022, the chapel had remained closed to the public for several years, and the stained-glass windows had never benefited from a dedicated mediation programme enabling visitors to understand their history, symbolism and place within GRATALOUP’s work.

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The opening of the Museum changed this. For five years, visitors were able not only to discover the stained-glass windows in the very place for which they were created, but also to benefit from interpretation that helped them understand and appreciate the works.

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After the Museum closes, the question will therefore be twofold: whether the chapel remains accessible, and how these works will continue to be interpreted and transmitted to the public. Without regular public access and mediation, the stained-glass windows will remain in the Prieuré, but risk returning to the silence that surrounded them for so long.

GRATALOUP’s work does not depend on the existence of the Musée GRATALOUP.

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The association will continue the essential long-term work required to preserve knowledge of the artist and transmit his legacy: preservation and documentation of the corpus, historical research, archives, authentication, development of the catalogue raisonné and relations with collectors.

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This work will also support the circulation of GRATALOUP’s work and its presentation to new audiences.

That is not our plan today.

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The Musée GRATALOUP had a particular meaning in Chevreuse because of the exceptional history linking the artist to the town. That history and coherence cannot simply be recreated artificially in another location.

 

The closure of the Museum therefore marks the end of a place, not the search for another one.

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Our choice now is to take the work to new places and new audiences.

As a cultural experience that demonstrated its ability to connect with its public.

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Starting with a venue that was not a museum, our association created a contemporary art centre with a regular programme, invited artists, digital experiences, podcasts, mediation initiatives and cultural partnerships.

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Beyond the figures, however, what we remember most are the thousands of visitors who entered the Prieuré and discovered an artist and a body of work that many of them had not previously known.

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For us, this encounter with the public is the most important achievement of these five years.

Our greatest regret concerns the way this story is ending.

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Beyond administrative issues and disagreements regarding the implementation of the agreement, we would have hoped for an open and sincere discussion about the end of the project and everything that had been built over the years.

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At the end of this story, we would simply have liked to hear two words of thanks:

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Thank you to GRATALOUP, for his loyalty to Chevreuse and for everything he contributed to the town over forty years.

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Thank you to the association, for its commitment and for bringing this heritage to life and sharing it with the public for five years.

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In our view, it is this recognition that has been missing.

Until December 31, 2026, the association will retain its name Les Amis du Musée GRATALOUP.

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From January 1, 2027, it will become Les Amis de GRATALOUP.