Galerie dix-neuf, Saint Mathieu, Limousin, France

Saint Mathieu is a small town in the Parc naturel régional Périgord Limousin, south west France. It is situated just on the borders of the Dordogne, in the Pays des feuillardiers, in the heart of rural France.  One of the cantons of Haute-Vienne may not be the sort of place that springs to mind when choosing a location for an art gallery exhibiting contemporary art. However, the gallery is not a commercial concern, but more the private studio of a British artist, who generously opens his doors to other artists and visitors alike.

Robert and Patricia Middleton came from England to live in Saint Mathieu in late 2003. Robert is a painter and printmaker of some renown in Britain. Patricia is a published writer of short stories and poetry who has won prizes in international competitions. Together they published a children's picture book, Gobble-Up and Mrs Green, and a French version, Bouffe et Madame Vert, under their imprint Old Crow Books.

They were not looking for a house so much as a way of life. They met Jan Cintas, an English artist and journalist, working at the time for an immobilier's office as a negotiator and translator. 

Most properties advertised as fermettes, with a barn that would lend itself as a studio, had long been bought up, but Jan surprised them with the suggestion that they should look in a town. Sure enough, in a road that had housed many artisans' workshops in days gone by, (see old photographs from 1900)were two adjoining houses, 17 and 19, being sold as one. 19 had been used as a shoe factory by Adidas some twenty years before. A steel-roofed workshop had been added to the back in a large garden with steps leading down to a vegetable plot and ash woods beyond. A small stream, La Samaritaine, runs through. All this a few meters from the centre of town, with the Mairie, the Church, the Intermarché, bakers, banks, Post Office, hairdressers, Presse. The habitable house was so spacious and welcoming, the opportunity was not to be missed.

They had spotted the potential for a large atelier for Robert and a spacious well-lit exhibition area that would house their private, non-commercial art gallery and would be ideally suited to exhibiting the sort of professional and challenging contemporary art that Robert loved so much.

Galerie dix-neuf 19 rue de Nontron 87440 Saint Mathieu, Limousin, S W France

The first exhibition of 2011 is a mixed exhibition of international artists who all love France. There will be fourteen contibutors drawn from six different countries:

• Clare Avery
• Erik J. van Bercum
• Em Bryant
• Delia Cavers
• Germaine Charrannac
• Janet Cintas
• Lindsay Cox
• Rachel Deraes
• Catherine Gregory
• Peter Martin
• Robert Middleton
• Priscilla Taylor
• B Tow
• Barbara Walton

The exhibition will run from 20 April - 14 May and will be open from 10am - 12 and 2.30pm - 5pm. Entry free.

Find out more about Art in Limousin and Art in France:

Contemporary Art in the Chateau of Rochechouart, South West France

Learn to Paint in France

Painting Limousin