Musée des Beaux-Arts Salies (Fine Arts)

The Founding Patrons :
At the foothills of the Bédat mountain, between the Thermes (thermal baths) and the Casino, the Museum was founded in 1852 thanks to the determination of Achille Jubinal, a Deputy of the Hautes-Pyrénées between 1852 and 1870.

He donated a part of his own collection and received further gifts from the State thanks to his friendship with Princess Mathilde, the cousin of Napoleon III and the purported mistress of the Count of Nieuwerkerke, who was the director general of the Imperial Museums and was later named director of Fine Arts in 1863.

This association meant that the museum received a significant number of paintings from the grand Parisian Salons. In fact, the homogeneous collection at the Musée Salies represents all the great artistic movements of the first half of the nineteenth century.

The collection grew thanks to the bequests of Justin Daléas, a clothier from Toulouse, who commissioned the current building, which he insisted be called Salies after the nearby spring which cured him with its healing water.
Completed in 1931, under the direction of the architect Jaussely, the facade is directly inspired by the style made fashionable by the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris in 1925.

In 1938, Blanche Odin, a famous watercolorist (1865 Troyes – 1957 Bagnères) nicknamed The Rose and Flower Fairy, offered 48 watercolors to which a number of acquisitions were added : flowers, animal scenes, portraits and landscapes that pay tribute to the beloved local artist from Bagnères.

In June 2014, a set of Berber jewelry donated by Jocelyne Didier enhances the orientalists collection of the Salies Museum.

In July 2019, Jean Louis Morelle donated 75 watercolors giving a the collection a new lease of life.

Recently, in September 2020, complementing the Jocelyne Didier ethnography collection, a Tibetan collection donated by Jean Lassale and Deny Roger has been added.

The museum also houses Jeanne Sayous’ collection of popular art objects reflecting daily life in the Pyrenees.