The foundations of the exceptional collection of modern art at the MAMC+ (Musée d’art Moderne et Contemporain de Saint-Étienne Métropole) were laid after the Second World War by Maurice Allemand (1906-1979), director of the Musée d’Art et d’Industrie from 1947 to 1966, at that time the only museum in Saint-Étienne.

This art collection is now part of the MAMC+, created in 1987. Maurice Allemand surrounded himself with some of the greatest artists, gallery owners and collectors of his era, and their donations, together with his purchases, transformed the museum’s collection, making it a pioneer among French regional modern art museums. Paule Vézelay is represented in the museum’s collection and in this exhibition – Maurice Allemand, or How Modern Art came to Saint-Etienne 1947-1966 – by two works donated to the collection by Susi Magnelli, the widow of artist Alberto Magnelli who knew Vézelay in Paris in the 1930s.