Hôtel d'Assézat
Stand in the courtyard of the Hôtel d'Assézat and look up: three floors of stone arcades stack Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders one above the other, the whole composition lifted from Italian classicism and set down in Toulouse's characteristic pink brick. It is a 16th-century merchant's ambition made permanent.
Today the building houses the Fondation Bemberg — over a thousand works spanning the 15th to 20th centuries, including 35 Bonnard paintings on the second floor — and the Académie des Jeux Floraux, a literary society that has been meeting since 1323. The courtyard itself is free to enter, and there's a café inside.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who come back tend to head straight upstairs to the Bonnards before the tour groups arrive, then linger in the loggia when the afternoon gets warm. The first Tuesday of the month buys you an extra two hours — doors stay open until 20:00, and the light in the courtyard shifts completely by then.
The story behind Hôtel d'Assézat
Pierre d'Assézat made his fortune in woad — the blue dye that briefly made Toulouse one of the wealthiest cities in Europe — and in 1555 commissioned architect Nicolas Bachelier to build a mansion worthy of it. He wanted the building twice as large, but a neighbour refused to sell the adjacent land. Bachelier and his stonemason Jean Castagnié completed the first phase by 1557, then both died; Bachelier's son Dominique finished the work between 1560 and 1562.
D'Assézat never quite settled in it. A Calvinist convert, he was forced out of Toulouse in 1562 after a failed Protestant coup, returned only after renouncing his faith in 1572, and died in 1581. The mansion passed through several owners before banker Théodore Ozenne bought it in 1894 and eventually bequeathed it to the city for its learned societies. After a restoration in the 1980s and a further three-year renovation, the Fondation Bemberg reopened here in February 2024.
Good to know
Metro line A to Esquirol or line B to Carmes, then a short walk. The courtyard is free; the Bemberg collection costs €15 full price. Closed Mondays outside May–July. Budget 90 minutes for the collection; longer if you linger over the Bonnards.
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What travellers say about Hôtel d'Assézat
Museums and Art Galleries can sometimes be overwhelming. Not so for this one. It has a nicely curated collection of beautiful paintings and other types of art, even some old manuscripts, which shows the passion of the collector. I didn’t find much on George Bemberg himself, but his collection is outstanding. The building it is housed in is beautiful too, so do not forget to take that in. De Assézat family played an interesting role in Toulouse’s history.
€12/person and well worth it if you like impressionism and being close up to good art. Everything is well- maintained and clean. Good layout and descriptions of each gallery. Some Monet, a Picasso, and some Sickert work. Could spend anywhere from 45 minutes to 2.5 hours depending on your level ofviewing and appreciation for the works.
The collection is relatively small. They have a few nice canvases of old masters like Titian but their forte is the modern collection, specifically Pierre Bonnard.
Totally worth a visit! The permanent collection is beautiful, dare I say it was the museum I liked the most in Toulouse! The temporary collection when I visited was on jewelry, which was also very impressive with lots of details. On the permanent collection you can find works from famous names, such as Degas, Gauguin, Matisse, Renoir, Picasso, Braque, etc. The visit is worth the price, at least for once!
Absolutely stunning museum with tons of paintings by my favorite Impressionists. You could easily spend a few hours just wandering around. The building itself is beautiful, and the inner courtyard is just breathtaking 🧡
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