Fernand Léger’s farm transformed into a museum in 2017

Born in Argentan, the painter Fernand Léger lived most of his life in Paris but never forgot his Norman origins. He would go relax in the Pays d’Auge, on the farm bequeathed to him by his mother. The owner wants to turn it into a museum.

A mosaic welcomes visitors into the painter Fernand Léger’s farm in Lisores, Pays d’Auge.

“His whole oeuvre comes from here. To me, it is fundamental, it is primary. There is the large mosaic (on the facade of a building), the chapel (whose stained glass windows were done by the artist), the half-timber found everywhere in his painting, nature, vegetation, it is primordial, it is the basis. This farm is the basis, if you likes Léger’s work, you have to come here.” In 2008, Jean du Chatenet visited Lisores, in the Pays d’Auge. The Parisian art dealer is a collector of Fernand Léger’s works. The painter’s heirs showed him around the premises, which have been abandoned for 10 years.

Fernand Léger died in Gif-sur-Yvette, in the Essone region, and lived in Paris, but he is from Normandy, as his painting shows. The artist was born in Argentan, in the Orne region (the city is currently trying to revitalize his childhood home), and he never cut ties with his roots. In 1922, his mother bequeathed to him her farm, located in Lisores, a house where, for thirty years, he went to unwind whenever he could and also used as a studio. In the seventies, his wife, Nadia Léger, opened the doors to the public.

Forty years later, the art dealer Jean du Chatenet decides to revive the project. For nine years, he has been renovating the farm to turn it into a museum, which will be opened to the public next year