2 January 2025

Le Musée rêvé
A commission to Ivan Messac

 "This commission is meaningful because I care about the existence of this future museum. I am pleased to see my city being enriched  thanks to this project. By imagining Le Musée rêvé [The Dreamt Museum], I found an opportunity to express the joy of knowing that this museum will come to reality." 
– Ivan Messac, October 23, 2024.  

As the Fondation begins to shape the program for its museum, set to open in Caen around 2030, we are filled with anticipation for what the museum of tomorrow will be like. 

As a means to dialogue, the Fondation entrusted Ivan Messac, an artist and teacher from Caen, to reflect on the form and values of this future place, which now belongs to the imagination. 

With Le Musée rêvé [The Dreamt Museum], Ivan Messac portrayed two children walking enthusiastically on the apple-filled grounds of Normandy towards a dream-like vision of Antiquity and its mysteries. 

The Fondation holds around ten of the artist's works, which Jean Claude Gandur started acquiring in 2018, mainly about the figuration narrative. Some of these works like Black Panther, Tigre de papier (1969), Angela, Angela (1969) and the Maquette pour la fresque de Nanterre (1969) were presented in the exhibiton Années pop, années choc, 1960-1975 at the Mémorial de Caen in 2023. Others, such as Viet Nam 70 (1970-1971) and Je passe, vous repasserez II (June 1968), were, until recently, shown at the Musée d'art de Pully in Figuration narrative, un autre langage pop.

The Fondation Gandur pour l'Art extends its heartfelt gratitude to Ivan Messac for his exceptional contribution and his insightful vision for the future cultural and artistic space in Caen.