Olivier Chaslin, architect

Rebeyrolle directly asked me to build this museum, around the year 1990. We had, in his studio or mine, surrounded by paintings or architectural models, or sitting at a table sharing a lovely meal or bottle, numerous conversations of a nature which could not have been rendered in, let’s say, an architectural competition program.
These conversations were about the spirit of this project, about the relationships between the paintings and the Espace’s walls and light, about the paths that the visitors should be invited to trod by a sober building showing no particular intent to seduce.

He also suggested that the Espace should be a place for cultural resistance, a stronghold.

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A stronghold

A stronghold is not subdued to the territory that surrounds it. It’s on the contrary the latter that becomes attached to it. On this former industrial site located on the fringe of a beautiful city, we did not want to conjure up the ideas of industry or the vernacular architecture. That is why the building shows no contextual clue. It because of its specific placement and foothold that it merges into this granitic region.
A stronghold is also a landmark, a testimony of a permanency. From this idea emerged the desire of a contemporary and yet timeless building that, from the very day of its opening,  would look like it was always there. Not new, nor ancient: just here, now.

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The light

With Paul Rebeyrolle, we wanted the light to be natural and plentiful.
We considered that an artificial light that change colours or at least how we perceive colours, should only be used as a last resort.
We have decided to take advantage of the dramatic dimension offered by a natural light subject to its own cycles or intensity and tone variations, and capable of transforming spaces thanks to the sun’s path. We wanted light to be alive.
A natural light allows proximity and intimacy between the painting, the Espace and the visitor.
It sets up a serene climate, which is necessary, considering the vitality and violence of Rebeyrolle’s art.

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Pathways

We wanted the works to be displayed in clearly delimited rooms, but also that these rooms remain opened onto one another, thus allowing multiple visions and connections.
We wanted the possible courses to be chronological but also free, so that the visitor is allowed to prefer wandering to chronology.
In the French broadsheet Le Monde, Philippe Dagen wrote in an article about the 1999 edition of the FIAC (International Fair for Contemporary Art) that ‘Rebeyrolle is the artist who punches the hardest’.
We designed and build this museum to accommodate the works of a hard-punching artist.

Olivier Chaslin, architect