Entrepreneurs turned collectors.

During the mid-19th century, Le Havre was to grow considerably in size. The port was modernised and imports of raw materials became the main source of prosperity in this town known as the "gateway to the ocean". Entrepreneurs and suppliers built their fortunes in trades such as cotton, coffee and precious woods. The fortunes they amassed they began to spend on art. By the end of the century, a new generation of art collectors had appeared.

More open to new generation artists, they attended the exhibitions in Paris; the Autumn Salon and the Salon des Indépendents, buying from galleries such as Druet, Bernheim and Vollard …

From Corot to Derain, Boudin to Dufy, Monet to Marquet, the exhibition at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris invites you to enter the private world of these collectors who formed a kind of club, defending the avant-garde taste with enthusiasm and generosity.