Located in the centre of the ancient city and easily accessible, the Musée Estrine, National Museum, is housed in an 18th century mansion. Closely linked to the history of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, the hotel d’Estrine used to be the seat of the princes of Monaco representatives. Nowadays a municipal property, it was beautifully restored in 1989 and regained its original magnificence.
The museum’s collection was made possible thanks to sponsorship and successive donations. Dedicated to artists of the 20th century, it reflects the graphic and pictorial evolution of the last sixty years. The collection includes works by Alechinsky, Doucet, Gleizes, Eugène Leroy, Édouard Pignon, Paul Rebeyrolle, Leon Zack and Ossip Zadkine. Two rooms are devoted to a permanent display of works by French cubist painter Albert Gleizes, who lived in Saint-Rémy from 1939 to 1953.
The musée Estrine intends to be a living museum and organizes annually, besides presentations of its collection of modern and contemporary art, several important temporary exhibitions. The interpretive centre of the work of Vincent van Gogh, installed in two rooms of the museum, attracts a large audience, including pupils and students. It is a tribute to the Dutch artist (audio-visual, exhibition of documents, letters, photographs) who lived for one year in Saint-Rémy from 1889 to 1890.