The Museums of Poitiers in France have officially acquired 'La Musée,' a landmark collection of 523 works by women artists spanning the 17th to the 21st centuries. Assembled by artist and historian Eugénie Dubreuil since 1999, the collection includes paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts intended as a 'counterproposal' to the male-dominated art historical canon. The acquisition was finalized in March 2024 following a rigorous two-year review process and was accompanied by a €150,000 grant from the Les Beaux Yeux endowment fund to support a five-year project dedicated to women artists.
This acquisition is significant for its sociological value and its challenge to traditional museum institutionalization. By integrating such a vast 'matrimoine' (female heritage) into a public institution, the Sainte-Croix Museum is addressing historical gender imbalances in its permanent collection. The process also highlights the scientific challenges of provenance and attribution for lesser-known female artists, setting a precedent for how public museums can handle large-scale, gender-focused private donations to reshape art history narratives.