[7][8] Over time, in addition to the museum, the building has housed a mount of piety, a tobacco warehouse and a drawing school.

"[10][11] Somewhat less derogatory, the 1891 edition of a Baedeker Guide covering southern France read: "In the former Grand-Prieuré is the Musée Réattu, a small picture gallery (many copies).

[13] Fittingly, the museum has in its holdings a letter from Van Gogh to Paul Gauguin written at Arles on 21 January 1889.

[7] Initiated by Lucien Clergue and Jean-Maurice Rouquette in 1965, the foundation of the department of photography was the first of its kind in an arts museum in France.

[21] The collections also include contemporary sculptures by César, Richier, Bourdelle, Zadkine and modern paintings by Dufy, Vlaminck and Prassinos, among others.

Initial gifts by photographers including Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, Man Ray, Peter Beard, Werner Bischof, Izis, William Klein and Jean Dieuzaide, as well as by collectors, were followed from 1970 onwards by photographs donated by the artists attending the Rencontres d'Arles.