Roseline Bacou, a graduate of the Ecole du Louvre in 1949, joined the Cabinet des Dessins in 1950 as a curator, now the Department of Graphic Arts at the Louvre Museum. She quickly became a great figure and Michel Laclotte, President of the Louvre, appointed her to head this prestigious Department in 1988. She devoted her entire career to her collections, contributing to their influence and their installation in the Pavillon de Flore.
Numerous publications today testify to his eminent ability as a specialist in French and Italian drawings, from the Renaissance to the 19th century, and to his profound knowledge of all European schools. Together with her colleagues from major Cabinets around the world, she knew how to build a real ethic for the conservation and presentation of drawings.
Retired in 1991 in Villeneuve-les-Avignon, she devoted herself entirely to the development and opening to the public of the Saint-André Abbey that her grandfather Gustave Fayet, already owner of the Fontfroide Abbey, painter and collector, acquired in 1916 and offered to the poet Elsa Koeberlé. Heir to her passion for the art of Odilon Redon, she dedicated important works to the great painter of Symbolism. Her thesis published in 1956 and the exhibition she devoted to her in the same year at the Orangerie Museum remain essential references for the artist. The exhibition organized at the Grand Palais in Paris in 2011 by Rodolphe Rapetti was also a tribute to Roseline Bacou who, as executor of Arï and Suzanne Redon’s will, had included in the national collections the prestigious donation that can be admired at the Musée d'Orsay.
She was a member of the board of directors of the Angladon-Dubrugeaud Foundation and actively participated in the influence of the Angladon Museum in Avignon.
Roseline Bacou was Knight of the Legion of Honour, Officer of the National Order of Merit and Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters.
The Ministry of Culture and Communication and all the museums of France offer their sincere condolences to his family and join in the emotion of the community of curators and art historians who owe him so much.