BIRTH OF AN ART GALLERY

In the mid 19thcentury, the intellectual and political elite of Reunion requested the creation of a museum and art gallery devoted to what was at that time referred to as the "fine arts". 

However, the museum did not open until the early 20th century, when two childhood friends born in Reunion, Georges Athenas et Aime Merlo, writers who took on the pseudonym of Marius and Ary Leblond, initiated the project of the museum and art gallery.

They had the support of the General Council of Reunion, which agreed to hand over to them the former residence of the bishop of Saint-Denis. On 12th November 1912, the new museum and gallery was opened to the public. It was island’s second museum, the first being the Natural History Museum.

From the start, the museum was named after Leon Dierx, a Reunion born poet, painter and sculptor.