It was during the exhibition "Impressionismo: Paris e a Modernidade", held between 2012 and 2013, that Chenue and Expomus decided to invest in the project of establishing a contemporary art storage facility with a standard of quality that until then did not exist in Brazil. Thus Clé Chenue do Brasil was born.
Chenue: 1760, the Louvre and 70,000 m² in Europe
Founded in 1760 to care for the luggage of Queen Marie Antoinette, Chenue maintains 70,000 square metres of space dedicated to specialised fine art storage, mainly in Europe. The quality of its services is so widely recognised that the company counts the Louvre among its main clients.
Expomus: forty years of exhibitions and museology
Expomus, for its part, with forty years on the road, was the first Brazilian company specialising in cultural projects and Museology, responsible for staging some of the most important exhibitions of recent decades. In addition to the aforementioned "Impressionismo: Paris e a Modernidade", produced in partnership with the Musée D'Orsay, the company also produced "Picasso e a modernidade espanhola" and "O Triunfo da Cor: o pós-impressioninsmo", the most visited exhibitions in the world in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
Expomus has also worked on the establishment of institutions such as the Museu da Imigração and USP's Museu de Zoologia (both in São Paulo), and on the museological requalification of the Sítio Roberto Burle Marx (in Rio de Janeiro), which in 2021 was recognised by Unesco as a World Heritage Site, among many other projects with an impact on the Brazilian cultural scene.
What the two brought to Clé Chenue
"For the Clé Chenue project, we brought in a specialised French firm that worked with the best Brazilian suppliers to implement a top-level service," says Chenue executive Christian Noble. "Our space has all the prerequisites needed for the storage of works of art. And here, we go one step beyond what Chenue does around the world," adds Maria Ignez Mantovani Franco, general director of Expomus.
She is referring to the wide range of specialised services that Clé Chenue clients can access through Expomus, such as cataloguing of works of art, insurance and appraisal consultancy; framing, handling, installation of works, packing and transport; conservation and restoration; courier reception, customs clearance and airport assistance.
In this video, executives from both companies talk about the motivations behind the Clé Chenue do Brasil venture.
