Maison Gainsbourg
Maison Gainsbourg is a house museum in Paris dedicated to French musician Serge Gainsbourg. It comprises Gainsbourg's residence at 5 bis rue de Verneuil, preserved as it appeared on 2 March 1991, the day Gainsbourg died there; and a museum, library, bookstore, and piano bar called the Gainsbarre at 14 bis rue de Verneuil. It opened in September 2023.
WWW maisongainsbourg.fr𝕏 MGainsbourgFB Maison-Gainsbourg-3525521...IG maisongainsbourgIN maisongainsbourg
History
Gainsbourg bought the house at 5 bis in 1969, the year he and Jane Birkin recorded "Je t'aime... moi non plus." Gainsbourg and Birkin lived there until separating in 1980. Gainsbourg had called the residence his "maison-musée".After Gainsbourg died in 1991, the home stayed closed for over 30 years. Its exterior became covered with graffiti. Gainsbourg's daughter Charlotte owns and preserved the residence.
The house
The house at 5 bis appears as it did on the day of Gainsbourg's death. The house is dark, with black felt covering the walls.The house holds roughly 25,000 items, including antique furniture, gold records, cigarette packs, framed spiders, surgical tools, police badges, and the Steinway piano where Gainsbourg composed. Artwork depicts his muses, including Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Gréco, Françoise Hardy, Vanessa Paradis, and Birkin.
Visitors enter in pairs at timed intervals. They wear headphones playing an audio guide narrated by Charlotte Gainsbourg in French and English, backed by archival sounds.