Antoine de Galbert


Antoine de Galbert-Defforey, born in Grenoble, is a French collector of contemporary art and patron of the arts.
He is primarily known for being the creator of the Antoine de Galbert Foundation, a not-for-profit public utility foundation in France, whose mission is to promote different forms of modern and contemporary art through temporary exhibitions, and through his exhibition hall, La Maison Rouge.
On October 28, 2018, the establishment closed its doors for good, but the Antoine de Galbert Foundation continues to support the arts.

Biography

Great-grandson of an industrialist from the Isère department of France and orphaned at three years old, Antoine de Galbert-Defforey was adopted by his step-father, Charles Defforey. In addition to taking the Defforey name, Antoine inherited Charles Defforey's fortune.
A graduate of the Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble in 1979 and heir to the Carrefour group, he became the financial controller of supermarkets in 1980 before opening an art gallery in Grenoble in 1987. Over time he formed a collection, and after this gallery closed, he dreamed of organizing a not-for-profit foundation the Antoine de Galbert Foundation in order to maintain his engagement with contemporary art. In 2001, he acquired a derelict industrial area of on the Boulevard de la Bastille in Paris and filed for public utility status. In 2004, he opened La Maison Rouge, the foundation's exhibition hall, with the mission of promoting different forms of modern and contemporary art through temporary exhibits.
Anxious about the financial explosion of contemporary art, he does not consider himself an investor-collector and asserts that the human side of his foundation is almost more important than what is exhibited there.
In April 2018, he announced that he was donating his collection of 500 ethnic headdresses from hunters, warriors, shamans, and witch doctors to the Musée des Confluences in Lyon
On October 28, 2018, Antoine de Galbert announced the final closure of La Maison Rouge after having proved in 2017 that an eventual end of the adventure was inevitable, while the public utility foundation continues to support the arts by assisting, promoting and defending creation in the field of modern and contemporary art. The foundation's mission is to support art history education and the training of future artists. It also acquires works for the purposes of enriching the collections of certain museums. It funds grants for research, residencies or portfolio projects.

Exhibitions of the collection

  • Une histoire d'images . 16 December 2023 – 3 March 2024 at the Musée de Grenoble. Thanks to an important donation from the collector, the museum offered an exhibition of 95 photographs, representative of the 20th century.
  • Traverser la nuit. Œuvres de la collection Antoine de Galbert - curator: Noëlig Le Roux. 12 March – 29 August 2022 at the MAAT Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology in Lisbon
  • Grand Bazar. Choix de Jean-Hubert Martin dans la collection Antoine de Galbert. 26 June – 3 October 2021 at the Château d'Oiron - Centre des Monuments Nationaux
  • Burning House. Extraits de la collection Antoine de Galbert. 2 October 2020 – 10 January 2021 at Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź
  • Un certain désordre. Extraits de la collection Antoine de Galbert. 5 September – 22 November 2020 at the Multimédia Art Museum, Moscou
  • Day for Night. Collection vidéo d'Antoine de Galbert. 29 May – 31 August 2020 at the SHED centre d'art contemporain in Normandy
  • Le monde en tête. La donation de coiffes d'Antoine de Galbert. 6 June 2019 – 23 August 2020 at Musée des Confluences, Lyon
  • Cabinets de curiosités - curators: Laurent Le Bon and Patrick Mauriès. 23 June – 3 November 2019 at the Fonds Hélène and Édouard Leclerc pour la culture, Landerneau
  • Souvenirs de voyage. La collection Antoine de Galbert. 27 April – 28 July 2019 at the Musée de Grenoble
  • 100 Portraits. La Collection Antoine de Galbert. 2 July – 23 September 2018 in the Magasin Électrique, as part of the Rencontres d'Arles
  • Day for night. Collection vidéo d'Antoine de Galbert. 29 May – 31 July 2016 at the SHED contemporary art center in Normandy, Notre-Dame-de-Bondeville
  • Elévations. Hommage des collectionneurs Bruno Decharme et Antoine de Galbert à Joseph Ferdinand Cheval. 30 April – 30 August 2015 at the Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval, Hauterives
  • Le mur. Œuvres de la collection Antoine de Galbert. 14 June – 21 September 2014 at La maison rouge, Paris
  • Voyage dans ma tête. La collection de coiffes ethniques d'Antoine de Galbert. 10 March – 17 September 2012 at the Musée dauphinois, Grenoble
  • My Paris. Collection Antoine de Galbert. 1 October 2011 – 8 January 2012 at the Collectors Room Berlin
  • Ainsi soit-il. Collection Antoine de Galbert – Extraits. 16 septembre 2011 – 2 janvier 2012 au Musée des beaux-arts de Lyon
  • Joseph et moi. Antoine de Galbert – Joseph Denais, portrait croisé de collectionneurs. 9 July – 2 November 2011 at the Musée Joseph Denais, Beaufort-en-Vallée
  • Voyage dans ma tête. La collection de coiffes d'Antoine de Galbert. 12 June – 26 September 2010 at La maison rouge, Paris
  • Investigations of a Dog - Travelling exhibition of the FACE association's founder's collections. 22 June – 30 October 2011: Deste Foundation, Athènes. 17 February – 29 May 2011: Magasin III, Stockholm. 23 October 2010 – 16 January 2011: La maison rouge, Paris. 15 May – 5 September 2010: Ellipse Foundation, Cascais. 21 October 2009 – 7 February 2010: Fondation Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin
  • Je collectionne. 16 May – 13 September 2009 at the Espace Ducros, Grignan
  • Mutatis, Mutandis. La collection Antoine de Galbert. 18 February – 13 May 2007 at La maison rouge, Paris

    Other roles

  • Administrator of the Ecole du Louvre
  • Administrator of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris
  • Administrator of the Musée International des Arts Modestes in Sète

    Awards

Decorations