Margaux and Raphaël Blavy Collection

Through exhibitions, research, writing and long-term relationships with artists, the project seeks to create spaces where these practices can be encountered, discussed and transmitted.

Africa has never been an abstract subject or a distant field of interest. As an adult that emerged out of a childhood on the continent, it has profoundly shaped the way I understand history, culture, politics and human creativity. The collection reflects that ongoing dialogue.

What began as a commitment to individual artists gradually evolved into a broader curatorial project: not an inventory of objects, but as a field of relationships between artists, ideas, places and audiences. Acquiring an artwork is only the beginning of that relationship. Equally important are the conversations that follow, the exhibitions that bring works into dialogue, the texts that deepen their interpretation, and the opportunities created for new encounters.

The collection is built as an intellectual and visual space: a way of listening to artists, following ideas over time, and allowing exhibitions to become a form of research. It is guided by practices that engage with memory, identity, circulation, material transformation and the complex histories that continue to shape contemporary societies.

Supporting artists remains at the centre of the project. The ambition is not only to collect works, but to accompany artistic journeys, commission new projects, lend works to institutions, contribute to public conversations and help create conditions in which artistic practices can continue to develop and reach new audiences.

Château de Montgoger provides the collection with a unique environment in which these ambitions can take shape, through a conversation between contemporary artistic practices, historic architecture, landscape and public engagement.

Ultimately, the collection is driven by a belief in the power of artists to help us understand the world differently.