National Museum Launches Crowdfunding Campaign to Acquire Painting of Luxembourg Tour de France Winner

The Nationalmusée um Fëschmaart (formerly known as the Musée National d'Histoire et d'Art) recently launched a new crowdfunding campaign to acquire a painting by Luxembourg artist Joseph Kutter (1894-1941).

Following the success of its first participatory sponsorship action in 2016 to acquire the work "Vue sur le château de Larochette" by Barend Cornelis Koekkoek, the museum is launching a new crowdfunding campaign, with the help of the National Culture Fund (FOCUNA), for the 1932 painting "Le champion" which depicts Nicolas Frantz (1899-1985), Luxembourgish cyclist and two-time consecutive winner of the Tour de France (in 1927 and 1928).

The campaign invites the public to help the museum reach the set amount of €100,000 by the end of the year.

Three top Luxembourg cyclists are taking part in this fundraising campaign as ambassadors: Christine Majerus, Andy Schleck and Fränk Schleck have agreed to promote the campaign and to recreate Nicolas Frantz's pose from the painting.

 Luxembourg's Minister for Culture, Sam Tanson, explained: "The state cannot support everything: budgets are limited and currently very tight due to successive crises. A crowdfunding operation is not only a way of helping to finance a project, but also of involving the public who appropriates, so to speak, an important work for the country's collections. Thank you to our modern champions Andy Schleck, Fränk Schleck and Christine Majerus who, by contributing to the storytelling of this action, allow us to bring art to the heart of society, to show that it is part of our lives and that it nourishes the community."

Joseph Kutter's painting is currently on display on the upper floor of the Wiltheim Wing of the museum, next to a donation box. This space has been specially designed to also accommodate the 1927 bicycle of Nicolas Frantz as well as a portrait of it lent by the Nicole Letsch-Frantz family, from Mamer. Here, visitors can also watch two videos: one about the crowdfunding campaign (https://youtu.be/yOBSyElakwA) and another about the history of the painting with an analysis by MNAHA curator Lis Hausemer (https://youtu.be/rz5BrJEV4OU).

Further information about the "Klammt mat an d'Course" (Join the race) campaign, which runs until 31 December 2023, is available on the website: https://www.nationalmusee.lu/en/donation.

"Le champion" by Joseph Kutter (Photo credit: Tom Lucas, MNAHA)