One of the reason we chose Quimper (Finistère) over Brest was that I had read somewhere that it is a colorful town. Maybe it was the weather, but we found it equally grey and dull as many other French towns. Most of the color was found in the flowers on the bridges over the River Odet and the collections of the Pottery Museum (Musée de la Faïence). I counted that there are 17 bridges over the river in the downtown area, between the railway station and the said museum, and most of them pedestrian.
Weather on the second day in Quimper was not any better — light rain combined with strong wind — so we decided it was a museum day. First museum, the Fine Arts Museum of Quimper, had a temporary exhibition of the works from the local artist Pierre de Belay (1890-1947). We found his portraits absolutely brilliant. Rest of the exhibits covered art inspired by Bretagne, and also collections of old and honestly quite pompous Italian, Flemish, Dutch, and French paintings. The oldest paintings, mostly religiously themed, were from the 1400’s.
Before heading to the other museum, the Pottery Museum of Quimper, we briefly visited a small exotic garden in the city center.
In the end of the 19th century there were three pottery manufacturers in Quimper: Grande Maison HB, Porquier factory, and Henriot factory. Porquier was the first to close in 1904, and Henriot bought its mark. In 1968 Henriot encounter production difficulties, and was acquired by HB, resulting in all three original manufacturers ending up under the same roof. In 1983 this last factory was forced to close its doors due to labor shortage. Pretty much thanks to a single person’s efforts a project to create a museum was then launched. In the end of the 1980’s the old Porquier factory was acquired, and the works to complete the museum could be started in November 1990. The museum opened its doors in June 1991.
The next post (Part V) is about the short visit to the walled city of Concarneau on our drive to Carnac, our next destination to see more standing rocks.
