Like Serge Gainsbourg, Charles Trenet or Georges Brassens who benefit from places of memory, the “Grasse à Édith” association aims to open a museum dedicated to Édith Piaf in Grasse, where she died in 1963. Scheduled for 2027, the project is still only under discussion with the town hall.
From the collection of Bernard Marchois, former president of the association “Les Amis d’Édith Piaf”, Ludovic Imbert, current president of the two associations, is working with the town hall on the feasibility of the project. If it seems that the different parties are on track to find a building in the heart of the historic center, only technical and financial studies will make it possible to determine the viability of the project. The place will have to be adapted, rehabilitated and transformed into a museum space of between 250 m² and 300 m². “The Marchois collection will be at the heart of the exhibitions (in Grasse), but we hope to set up a patronage system for the museum, thus allowing the public to contribute and enrich the collection”he told The Connection.
“Grasse à Edith” is already working on scenography and museology, as Ludovic Imbert explains to The Connexion: “We are dedicated to preparing exhibitions and the accompanying documentation”. He adds: “If everything goes according to plan, I am confident that we will be able to open the museum in 2027.” The funding should be private and will rely on fundraising and a participatory appeal which should be launched in September 2026.
The villa was located in Grasse where Édith Piaf had spent the end of her life when she was suffering from liver cancer. She died there, but her body was transferred to Paris by her husband by ambulance to his apartment to suggest that her death had happened in the capital. This is what made Ludovic Imbert want to honor the memory of the singer. He tells The Connexion: “I am a musician and I live in Grasse, but it was only when I saw the film La Môme (2007) in 2017 that I realized that she had died in Grasse. »
The association “Grasse à Edith” was created in 2019 by the musician. It organizes events every year, such as its eponymous festival, where there have already been objects on display. Masses in his honor and “Môme balls” are also organized. It is linked by its president to “Friends of Edith Piaf” since 2022, when Ludovic Imbert replaced Bernard Marchois as director. The latter had created the association in 1967. It manages the small Édith Piaf Museum, which presents, by appointment, the collection of Bernard Marchois in the singer’s Parisian apartment, in the 11th arrondissement: portraits, posters, black dresses, or even romantic correspondence between her and Marcel Cerdan.
The Piaf museum project will therefore not be the first museum dedicated to a singer in France. Among the best known: the birthplace of Charles Trenet, located in Narbonne and opened in 2000, which tells the story of the singer’s life and inspirations based on personal effects and archive documents. The Espace Georges Brassens in Sète is developing an immersive scenography which reconstructs the life and work of the poet. At the Dannemois mill, it is possible to find Claude François’ house, as well as the park which surrounds the building. Joséphine Baker also has the right to her museum at the Château des Milandes: the music hall artist had lived there. A collection of personal and stage objects are on display. The scenography highlights his struggles, particularly against racism. The institution has been labeled “Maison des Illustres” since 2012.
Abroad too, places of homage are multiplying. In the UK, London and Liverpool are the Handel Hendrix House and The Beatles Story. The first, located at 23 and 25 Brook Street, mirrors the apartment of composer Georg Friedrich Handel and that of singer Jimi Hendrix, where he lived between 1968 and 1969. They are accompanied by an exhibition. In Liverpool, the Beatles Museum is located on the docks. It retraces their journey with period objects such as musical instruments or costumes.
