"I've almost travelled around the world to see collections and exhibitions, and to meet the museum's top decision-makers. What's more, the Jacquemart-André museum, which is part of the Institut de France and generously manages the bequests and foundations it holds, often responds positively to requests for loans from foreign curators. So, in this case, my job is to supervise the movement of a work. For example, I recently travelled to Washington to accompany a painting considered to belong to the school of Canaletto, and which, according to specialists, is by the master himself. More recently, I accompanied another painting to Madrid for the major Chardin retrospective at the Prado. And I'm still going to look for them, because it's essential that the works travel with the same eye, on the way there and on the way back, so that they can be properly recognised.
When I travel with these paintings, it's usually by plane, incognito, on scheduled flights. The canvas is locked in the hold in an atmospheric crate to protect it from the risk of explosion. As I teach at the Louvre, I also travel with my students - either by train or by plane, depending on the distance - to show them fifteenth-century Italian painting, my speciality. Every year, my family and I organise a cultural tour, like the one we'll be taking in June to Budapest, which I think is one of the few Western cities where you can admire façades that combine Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles.
All these trips are full of unexpected anecdotes. Like, for example, when I left in an unmarked lorry with a painting for the Fesch Museum in Ajaccio, where I had to pick up another one. So I decided to go to Toulon and take another ferry, because with a work of art, you can't take the risk of waiting. And I wanted to enjoy Corsica for a while... I had to exchange the paintings as quickly as possible and leave immediately on the same ferry.
On another occasion, I was in New York to bring back a work by cargo plane. Four hours before our departure, there was a dantesque thunderstorm, as sometimes happens on this coast of the Atlantic. As a result, JFK airport was completely disrupted, and there were at least twenty planes waiting on the runway. The pilot, who knew exactly what he was carrying, became impatient. In the end, he managed to get past everyone by taking a slip road and took off immediately. I was a bit stunned by his audacity, and basically delighted that the captain was the only master on board! "
Interview by Jean-Émmanuel Richomme
Five dates
1981 Our daughter Cécile was born after generations of boys.
1993 My arrival at the Jacquemart-André museum.
1994 Birth of our fourth child, Valentin.
2003 The purchase of my barn in Aveyron.
2007 The Philippe de Champaigne exhibition at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lille.
"In the intimacy of the Caillebotte brothers, painter and photographer".
Until 11 July. With its rooms featuring remarkable collections, this museum is a unique venue for receptions.
Special tours, cocktail parties, prestige dinners, ceremonies... (Tel.: 01 45 62 16 40).
Musée Jacquemart-André. 158, bd Haussmann, 75008 Paris.
Tel. : 01 45 62 11 59.
Internet : www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com
