Maillol Museum
The Maillol Museum is located in the artist's farmhouse two miles west of Banyuls-sur-Mer. Aristide Maillol is a renowned French Catalan artist who became one of most important sculptors of the 20th century. The subject of a majority of his work was the female nude, interpreted in all media as a classical form both voluptuous and idealized.
Born in Banyuls-sur-Mer in 1861, Maillol studied in Paris where he was influenced by postimpressionist Paul Gauguin and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. Many of his sculptural works of nudes and several war memorial are shown locally in Banyuls-sur-Mer, Céret, and Perpignan, while the majority of his more famous works are in his Paris museum and around the world.
The Maillol Museum near Banyuls exhibits numerous small sketches, ceramic models, and bronze sculptures in several rooms of his former farmhouse. Two rooms in the basement include two historic tableaus, the farmhouse dining area with a table set for dinner and a full kitchen with vibrant green lacquered cabinetry, each reflecting his love of Catalan culture and cuisine. Dina Vierny, his muse, model and close friend for a decade organized both museums after his death.
Vierny and Maillol were both pacifists during WWII and they secretly aided refugees across the Col de Banyuls to the Spain frontier. Maillol died in 1944 and his family buried him in the garden of his farmhouse with his famous sculpture, La Méditerranée as his tombstone.
Researched and written by Virginia Vanneman, Graduate Student in the Department of History, University of West Florida.
