Rodez and the Soulages museum

Pierre Soulages was born in Rodez in 1919 and came back twice: through his windows at Conques, and through the museum that bears his name.

The Soulages museum

Opened in 2014 and designed by the Catalan practice RCR Arquitectes, the building is a run of rusted Corten steel blocks set in the public gardens. It holds the painter’s donation to his home town: walnut-stain works, paintings on canvas, prints, and above all the outrenoirs, those entirely black canvases whose worked surface returns light differently depending on where you stand. You have to move in front of them: that movement is the subject of the painting.

The museum also hosts major temporary exhibitions.

The town

The pink sandstone cathedral of Notre-Dame de Rodez dominates the town with its 87-metre bell tower. The old centre around it is walked in an hour or two.

For walkers: the GR62

A GR62 links Rodez to Conques over 76 km, in three to five days, under the title “in the footsteps of Pierre Soulages”. It crosses the landscapes that formed the painter’s eye, which is a way of visiting both places while genuinely connecting them.