Eymoutiers (Haute-Vienne). The lights have been red for several months for the association that manages Espace Paul-Rebeyrolle. The place, dedicated to the painter (1926-2005) native of the small town, is struggling to make ends meet to guarantee its survival. Nathalie Rebeyrolle, daughter of the artist and president of the association, pointed out the risk of a cessation of payments by February 2026, a deadline since postponed thanks to the call for donations and patronage launched in response. Its financial situation remains no less critical. “Space will not be able to function beyond 2026 without a lasting solution, which does not rely solely on hypothetical donations from individuals”, Nathalie Rebeyrolle is alarmed.
Espace Paul-Rebeyrolle ended 2024 with a deficit of more than 30,000 euros, concomitant with a 15% drop in attendance. Located in a town of just over 2,000 inhabitants, the site usually attracted 8,000 visitors per year (with peaks of 15,000 visitors). Added to this structural weakness in attendance is the reduction in subsidies granted to it, which are now insufficient to ensure its operation – requiring a budget of €180,000 to €200,000 – while its annual turnover does not exceed 60,000 euros. Today, the structure receives 71,500 euros in subsidies per year, allocated by the Region (€59,000), the Department (€4,500) and the Drac (€8,000). An amount which fell by almost 37% between 2019 and 2025.
This decrease results from the gradual disengagement of the Region, its main support. In 2021, Espace Paul-Rebeyrolle will see support for associative jobs removed (€26,000), a first hard blow to which is added a double budget cut: its regional subsidy will be reduced by 26,000 euros in 2023, then by 15,000 in 2025. The Region assured in September that it will not make a further reduction in 2026, and proposed to organize a committee of partners – without further details to date –, remembering however that the place does not enter into its public policy priorities, which it wants to focus on the regional artistic scene. The Espace Paul-Rebeyrolle brings together a permanent collection of more than 80 works by the painter, largely belonging to his family. Inaugurated in 1995, the place organizes one temporary exhibition per year, devoted to big names in contemporary art (Jean Dubuffet, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, César, etc.) as well as lesser-known artists, always contemporaries of Rebeyrolle.
