The Louvre acquires Chardin’s Basket of Wild Strawberries Thanks to Record Donations

With an average donation of 165 euros and donors spanning all generations, nearly 10,000 contributors mobilized to allow Chardin's 'Basket of Wild Strawberries' to enter the national collection," the museum specified.

Once threatened with leaving France, the painting, classified as a national treasure, will be exhibited to the public at the Louvre-Lens starting March 21, the museum announced in a statement. After a return to Paris in June, it will move to the Museum of Fine Arts in Brest for the summer from July 2, before heading to the Roger-Quilliot Art Museum in Clermont-Ferrand on October 2.

Costing 24.3 million euros, this painting, depicting a pyramid of red fruits in a basket alongside a glass, white carnations, two cherries, and a peach, was "the last of this quality" still in the hands of private collectors, according to the Louvre.

The annual campaign raised over 1.3 million euros to supplement the 15 million euros provided by LVMH, 500,000 euros from the Friends of the Louvre society, with the remainder coming from other major donors and the museum's acquisition credits.

"The Basket of Wild Strawberries," exhibited in the Salon carré of the Louvre in the summer of 1761, is one of his last still lifes. Chardin was at the height of his career at that time, which earned him recognition throughout Europe.

Main Image :Jean-Siméon Chardin (1699-1779)
The Basket of Wild Strawberries