It is finally in Caen that French people and foreign tourists will be able to discover the art collection of Swiss billionaire Jean-Claude Gandur. His foundation will be located near the Memorial. It will open its doors in 2030. Among the seven cities that approached Jean-Claude Gandur, Rouen, Arles, Annecy and Fessenheim were quickly excluded. Strasbourg was in the semi-final but tensions between Mayor Jeanne Barseghian (EELV) and her opposition, her reduction in cultural aid and the increased closure of municipal museums took the city out of the competition. “My choice was rigorous but I also wanted to feel comfortable with the chosen city,” Jean-Claude Gandur told us last October.
His choice was difficult. Without an airport or TGV, Caen apparently left with fewer assets. But more than half a million Anglo-Saxons went to the Colleville-sur-Mer cemetery and 70,000 people to the Caen Memorial. Being installed near the Memorial also allows Jean-Claude Gandur to attract at least half of the Memorial’s visitors. In Caen, everyone speaks to him informally. He often rests on his property in Eure and especially when he was elected to the canton of Vaud, he got into the habit of taking young Swiss people to the Memorial several times. “He ended up sitting cross-legged to explain the Second World War and the Cold War. As he is very educational, he could guide visitors in the audio guide,” explained the former director of the Memorial, Stéphane Grimaldi. Caen was therefore the choice of the heart and the place where the arrival of the foundation would fundamentally change the face of the city.
For the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron and Rachida Dati Minister of Culture, the establishment of the foundation in France is excellent news. The Swiss billionaire could have chosen any other country. In recent months, the 75-year-old man has taken the time to reflect, helped by the Swiss firm Thematis based in the canton of Vaud and Carolina, his daughter-in-law, a lawyer in Switzerland. She devotes part of her free time to the foundation of which she is vice-president. “We traveled together to visit each candidate city,” Jean-Claude Gandur explained to us last October. After his career in oil, his collection is the second work of his life.
Made up of 3,700 pieces, this collection includes Roman, Greek, Egyptian antiquities, artifacts from America, Asia, Oceania, European furniture and sculptures from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, a set of paintings focused on post-war and contemporary artists from Hans Hartung to Chéri Cherin via Pierre Soulages. It is the collection of an enthusiast who embraces some major sections of art with relish. This body of work will not become the property of Caen. They will remain within a Swiss entity under the supervision of the federal state. The question of the free circulation of works between France and Switzerland has been resolved with the French State. There will be no customs problems.
The 51,000 square meter land was offered by the municipality of Caen. “I asked for public assistance for night security, leaflets in tourist offices and facilities such as parking,” he explains. To imagine this place, Jean-Claude Gandur visited numerous museums in Europe such as Louisiana north of Copenhagen, the green island of Djurgarden museums in Stockholm, the site of the Burrell foundation in Scotland but also the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Its museum will open its doors in 2030.