Musée des Beaux-Arts de Pau

Initially housed in the Parlement of Pau, then in the town's former asylum and finally in its own building, designed by the architect Jacques Ruillier between 1929 and 1931.

[3][1] In the interwar period the construction of a museum and a library were begun on 1 April 1929 on the site of the former asylum, designed by Parisian architect Jacques Ruillier and financed by promoter Henri Lillaz (in exchange for corresponding land on what is now Place Georges-Clemenceau on which to build the Palais des Pyrénées),[5] completed in 1930,[5] and opened in 1931 by Louis Barthou.

[1] In 2011, six paintings the museum had placed in Villa Saint Basil's [fr], owned by the Pau town council, were stolen after a reception.

[3] When formed in 1864, it was based on the first floor of the Parliament of Navarre,[9] in rooms judged to be too small, dark and humid, notably decried by the painter Narcisse Díaz de la Peña.

[14] The building's appearance breaks with the Beaux-Arts style common to other museums of the era[5][14] and merges aspects of neo-classicism and modern principles of Art Deco.

[5] Access to the first floor is via a monumental double staircase, where three large format works are displayed, including Eugène Devéria's The Birth of Henry IV.

[3] The western paintings go from the 16th century to the modern day, including works from major European schools such as the Italian (Andrea Solario, Holy Family; Luca Giordano's A Philosopher from a famous series of portraits painted of this subject; Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Francesco Trevisani; Gaspare Traversi; Simone Cantarini; Giulio Carpioni; Carlo Maratta), Spanish (De Ribera's Saint Jerome; El Greco's St Francis Receiving the Stigmata; Francisco de Zurbaran's Felipe de Guimaran Father of Mercy; Alonso Cano; Juan Carreño de Miranda), 17th century Dutch and Flemish (Jan Lievens; Nicolas Berchem Bartholomeus van der Helst; Jan van Huysum; Jan Miel; Pieter Neefs the Younger; two paintings by Peter Paul Rubens's Achilles Defeating Hector and Thetis Receiving the Arms of Achilles from Vulcan, both made as cartoons for tapisteries, and grisaille sketch The Last Judgement; Jacob Jordaens; David Teniers the Younger; Jan Brueghel the Elder's The Entrance under the Arch; Frans II Francken) and French, particularly the 18th century (François de Troy; Nicolas de Largillierre; Natoire; Jean-Baptiste Oudry; Jean-Marc Nattier; Carle Van Loo; Hubert Robert's The Fire at the Opéra at the Palais Royal and The Waterfalls at Tivoli).

From the 20th century there are paintings by artists such as Kees van Dongen (Portrait of Anne Diriart, 1924), André Lhote, Lucien Simon, Albert Marquet and Rodolphe Caillaux as well as sculptures by Rodin and Alfred Boucher such as Rest (1892).