Bertrand Chenu, Musée de l'insolite / Museum of the absurd

portrait of Bertrand Chenu (May 2013)

courtesy of Cathy de Mol (Flickr)

In the Lot area in the south of France an outsider artist has created his own museum.

Life and works

Bertrand Chenu from childhood on was a collector of all kinds of objets trouvés.

A tanner by profession, by vocation he became an autodidact artist, working as a painter and making sculptures from wood and iron, often using leftover material, tree stumps and objects from the rubbish-dump.

picture by the tourist office in the Lot department

In 1984 Chenu could buy an old house in Cabrarets, in the Lot department, France. He renovated it and transformed it into a musée de l´insolite, which was opened in 1988. Here he exposes his creations and objets trouvés. 

from the museums website

Chenu displays processed carcasses of old cars, motorcycles, sculptures from iron waste material impersonating animals, personalities and so on, all together giving way to his view on an alienated, but interesting and fascinating world of recuperated items.

Visitors are welcome, especially of course if they buy some postcards and make a donation.

The collection will change in the course of time, in which new items will be added.

Documentation

* The museum's website
* Owen Philips' weblog Magic Lantern Show has a number of posts about the museum and Chenu
* Article (July 2013) in regional newspaper La Dépeche
* Article (2014) on the weblog of Sophie Lepetit, with a series of pictures

* Article by Sonia Terhzaz on her website Cartographie des Rocamberlus (environnements d'art singulier), with a report of the visit she made in August 2021 and a detailed description of everything on display

Video
* A video on Daily motion (2012, 57") by testsdesophie

first published February 2009, last revised April 2023

Bertrand Chenu

Musée de l´insolite

lieu-dit Liauzu

Cabrerets, dept Lot, region Occitanie, France

open daily in summer, apr-nov, 9-20 h

streetview