Musée-jardin de la Luna Rossa / Garden museum of la Luna Rossa

part of of the Luna Rossa Garden Museum 
with  sculptures by Séraphin Enrico 
(photo courtesy Marcello 14, Flickr)

Initiated by Olivier Thiébaut, the Musée-jardin de la Luna Rossa is a private museum, located in the rue Damozanne in Caen, Normandy. France. The museum is set in a garden that was originally owned by a lady living in rue Damozanne,. She left the 950m² of land to the municipality on condition that it would be used as a garden¹. The municipality agreed with the use of the garden as an exhibition space. as in Thiébaut's concept.

Supported by a group of volunteers, one of its aims is to save the works of creators of art environments that are in danger of neglect or demolishment. As the site was not maintained for many years, the volunteers involved had to give the garden a major makeover.

The museum opened in 1996.

Also in 1996 Thibaut published Bonjour aux promeneurs. Sur les chemins de l'art brut, Paris (Ed. Alternatives), a book, currently a collector's item, that describes seventeen outsider artists² and creators of environments in western and northern France. As this book, the museum focuses on creations which originate from these parts of France

The museum also has a number of works that originate from sites that already have disappeared (such as creations made by Enrico and by Tourquetil).

The name of the museum is derived from the inscription la Luna Rossa on the Venus sculpture in the group of sculptures made by Séraphin Enrico (picture above). This weblog has the interesting story that relates how Thiebaut and friends in 1995 recovered the dumped sculptures made by Séraphin Enrico.

The museum's collection includes works of Fernand Chatelain, Euclide da Costa Ferreira, Emile Taugourdeau, André Hardy, Louis Tourquetil, Séraphin Enrico, Arthur Vanabelle, Bodan Litnianski, Robert Vasseur and others.

More pictures
* On the weblog les grisgris de Sophie (May 2010) a description of the museum and a varied collection of pictures.
* On Flickr a photostream by Herbaltablet, uploaded July 2009.
* Another series by Marcello 14, uploaded between September 2008 and August 2009

notes
¹ this info thanks to Françoise Genty
² the book documents the works of Euclide da Costa Ferrera, Fernand Chatelain, Henri Chéné, Louis Tourquetil, Raymond Macé, André Hardy, Robert Vasseur, Emile Taugourdeau, Jean Clérembaux, Auguste Le Boulch, Arsène Enouf, Eugène Firek, Gabriel Albert, Bodan Litnianski, Joseph et Paulette Alberca,  Arthur Vanabelle and Séraphin Enrico

first published November 2008, last revised December 2021


Musée-jardin de la Luna Rossa
6 rue Damozanne
14000 Caen France
open Sundays 10-18 h (apr-oct)