Yves Brayer Museum – Hotel de Porcelet

The Yves Brayer Museum is housed in one of the most beautiful mansions in the centre of the village, the Hôtel de Porcelet. It presents a wide-ranging retrospective of the works of this artist who was so fond of Mediterranean landscapes and who is one of the most representative exponents of figurative art in the 20th century.

This is an exceptional collection in terms of the quality and rarity of the hundred or so originals, covering almost sixty years of creative work. Alongside Provençal landscapes, there are canvases inspired by Spain and Italy, covering the main themes dear to the artist’s heart.

The fully restored permanent collection will be revisited this year with the addition of six projects by contemporary artists alongside the works of Yves Brayer.

**Yves Brayer**, born in 1907, is one of the most important French painters of the 20th century. He brought his personal vision to bear on a broad range of subjects, while remaining faithful to the **figurative tradition**. He died in 1990. He is buried in the cemetery at the top of the village.

**Opening hours**
April to September, open every day: 10.00 am to 12.30 pm and 2.00 pm to 6.30 pm
October to March open every day, except Tuesday: 1.00 pm to 5.30 pm
**Annual closure:** 30 December 2025 to 4 March 2026 included

This fine late 16th-century mansion has an original façade and elegant finely carved room decorated with 17th-century paintings.

**16th-century three-storey building with a staircase.**

Exhibition Bernard Buffet – Amitié d’Artistes

From 7 May to 9 November 2026

Their paths first crossed in 1947 at the jury of the École des Beaux-Arts, and again in 1948 at the Salon d’Automne, where Bernard Buffet was admitted as a member. Their true friendship, however, began in 1974, when Yves Brayer actively supported his election to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, which took place on January 22, 1975.

Yves Brayer and Bernard Buffet shared more than a passion for painting: a profound love of art, whether antique, Flemish, Romantic, or modern. They admired Gros, Delacroix, Géricault, Goya, and Francis Gruber, a close friend of Brayer. Both were staunch defenders of Figuration, steadfastly rejecting Abstraction, and tireless in their work — one painting by day, the other by night.

A selection of works from 1947 to 1998 highlights the wide range of Bernard Buffet’s oeuvre. The exhibition An Artists’ Friendship pays tribute to this rare bond, marked by deep friendship and mutual admiration. To celebrate it, Yves Brayer’s works engage in a sensitive and silent dialogue with Buffet’s pieces, while some of Buffet’s works revisit the museum’s permanent collections.

Visit until November 9 at the Musée Yves Brayer in Les Baux-de-Provence. Discover this unique dialogue between two great 20th-century artists.