Located in the heart of Boulogne-Bilancourt, close to the mayor's office, the Museum of the Thirties has shared its premises with a video library, cinema and multimedia centre since 1998. The building is named after the French sculptor with Polish roots, Paul Landowski, who was associated with the town, and his brother, the musician Marcel. In its collections, the Museum of the Thirties has a rich collection of works by Polish representatives of the Paris School (Ecole de Paris) active between the wars.

History of the museum

The origins of the city's Museum of the Thirties lay in Dr Albert Besançon's 1939 idea to bring together collections relating to the cultural and industrial heritage of Boulogne-Billancourt. This idea was abandoned by the founding curator's successor as early as the 1980s. Under Besançon's successor, Emmanuel Bréon, the collection focused on collecting, disseminating and researching art of the 1930s. The new profile of the institution corresponded to the period of greatest prosperity in the history of Boulogne-Bilancourt, when numerous painters, sculptors, architects or filmmakers began to settle there due to the low price of land. The museum acquired its current name in 1994.

Polonica in the collection of the Museum of the Thirties

The exhibition of the Museum of the Thirties, spread over an area of 3,000 square metres, presents a selection of works by the most important artists active in France in the 1930s, including works by Polish representatives of the Ecole de Paris. Strolling through the museum's permanent collection, one can encounter, among other things, an image of the most recognisable muse of the era - Kiki de Montparnasse - by the Lodz-based painter Maurycy Mędrzycki (Maurice Mendjizky; 1890-1951); paintings and sculptures by the Polish-Hungarian artist Jan Lambert-Rucki (Eng. Lambert Rucki, 1888-1967); or canvases by the Polish-Jewish painter and fashion designer Sara Lipska (1882-1973). The pearl of the collection is a portrait of the Polish aristocrat and banker Tadeusz Łempicki of Juno Coat of Arms by his first wife, the world-renowned Polish-Jewish artist Tamara de Lempicka (1894-1980). The painting, due to an unfinished fragment depicting a hand posing without a wedding ring - was sometimes interpreted as an announcement of a change in the marital status of the spouses.