A former Augustin convent that was converted into a museum during the French Revolution, the Museum of Augustins offers an exceptional setting for paintings and sculptures dating from the Middle Ages to the 1940s.
Works by French artists such as Ingres, Delacroix, Manet, Courbet, and local hero Toulouse-Lautrec are well represented, and there’s also a fascinating range of Gothic, Romanesque, and Renaissance sculptures, many obtained from buildings that once stood in Toulouse. Other European artists are featured, too—there’s a great selection of works by painters such as Perugino, Crespi, Rubens, and Murillo.
The museum is located around the corner from the Esquirol metro stop on the southern edge of the Old Quarter of Toulouse. It’s a 20-minute walk from Toulouse’s main train station, and the airport is a 30-minute drive or taxi ride away.
The museum is open to the public Thursday to Monday (closed Tuesday and Wednesday). Sunday afternoons are the busiest time there, so choose a different day for a quieter experience. The convent’s cloister provides a lovely, shaded space to stroll around on a hot day.
As part of an attempt to secularize France during the French Revolution, church property was often confiscated by the state. The Augustine Convent was handed over to a local citizen who used the great refectory as a stable block before a petition led by eminent professors from the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture succeeded in securing the building as a museum, to house and protect the many precious artworks in Toulouse.