Converted French winery museum gains national recognition

La Coopérative-Musée Cérès Franco in Montolieu, France, reopens on 20 June after a four-year renovation. Housed in a 1939 Art Deco winery, the museum attained Musée de France status in December 2025, fulfilling a condition set by Brazilian-born collector Cérès Franco. Franco donated nearly 1,750 works to the state, demanding official recognition for art previously ignored. The collection includes CoBrA and New Realism artists, outsider artists, and Brazilian Primitivos, making it France's leading collection of Brazilian heritage art. Director Maximilien Fortier notes the museum now accesses a national peer network and DRAC funding, including €25,000 for a €43,000 insect eradication project. Franco, who died in 2021, opened her first gallery in 1972 and championed marginalized artists like Chaïbia Talal. The museum holds works by Michel Macréau, otherwise absent from French public collections.