The Ecole de Nancy Museum is one of the few French museums dedicated to an artistic movement: Nancy Art Nouveau.
Inside the house, the furniture, the objets d'art, the glasswork, the ceramics and the fabric attest the diversity of the techniques employed by the École de Nancy artists. The unique and prestigious objects throughout the museum are the realizations of a virtuous technique as well as widely produced and diffused works of art. The small wood inlaid furniture, the acid engraved glass and the series of ceramics are representative of “Art for all.”
The museum does not represent a strict recreation of the 1900s décor, but instead tries to reproduce the atmosphere and ambiance of the period by placing the artwork in an appropriate context. The space is arranged to encourage and promote unrestricted browsing and to immediately introduce the visitor to the intimate work of Nancy artists. The museum offers a glimpse of the French Art Nouveau movement through the works of Guimard, Chaplet, Selmersheim and Carabin. An extensive collection of over 400 glass and ceramic works by Emile Gallé are also housed within the museum. Several of Gallé’s most exemplary furniture, including Les Parfums d'autrefois ("The Scents of the Past"), Le Rhin ("the Rhine") table and the Aube et Crépuscule ("Dawn and Twilight”) bed are equally presented. Louis Majorelle’s elegant furniture production can be admired throughout the museum, specifically in the grand piano decorated with pinecone motifs. Another well represented artist, Victor Prouvé, contributed to the production and realization of the extraordinary Masson dining room, carried out in 1904 by Charles Masson. The dining room demonstrates École de Nancy’s originality in its search for the unity of art.