Abbaye de Flaran is an extremely well-preserved Cistercian Abbey just outside Valence-sur-Baïse in the département of Gers, south-west France. The abbey was founded in 1151 by Burgundian monks as a daughter house of Escaladieu Abbey in the Hautes-Pyrénées.

Abbaye de Flaran

It has had a turbulent history. It suffered damage during the Hundred Years War and a fire during the Wars of Religion. It was sold during the Revolution and transformed into a grain barn and a cellar for Armagnac. It underwent restoration in the eighteenth century to meet the needs of the religious community with a new dormitory and dining hall. However, it suffered fire again in 1970, after which it was bought and restored by the département du Gers and since 2000 it has housed the Departmental Heritage Conservation and Museum Conservatory.

Cloister of Abbaye de Flaran

However, once inside the abbey there is a surprise – the monks’ dormitory is also home to the Simonow collection of paintings and sculptures, which includes works by Claude Monet, Gustave Courbet, Auguste Rodin, Salvador Dali, Pierre Auguste Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec, among others. It is an enormous collection, so the displays change periodically. Amongst those to be seen during my visit were:

Pierre Auguste Renoir ‘Portrait of Claude Monet’ (1875)

Claude Monet ‘Inondation à Giverny’ (1880s)

Paul Cezanne ‘Portrait of Paul Choquet’ (c.1880)

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec ‘Vieil homme’ (c.1885)

Pierre Bonnard ‘Portrait of Andrée Bonnard’ (1887 – 88)

Auguste Rodin ‘Buste de Victor Hugo’ (late 19th century)

Walter Sickert ‘Portrait of Virginia Woolf’ (c.1914)

Suzanne Valadon ‘Nature morte au panier de fruits’ (1920)

André Derain ‘Nature morte aux grives’ (1923)

Chaïm Soutine ‘Portrait de jeune femme en rouge’ (c.1928)

Salvador Dali ‘Rhinocéros cosmique’ (1956)