At Hickmet Fine Arts there is little we love more than visiting museums and exhibitions dedicated to our favourite artists. The venues feature the absolute best of the best, curated by experts, so visiting them in person is an invaluable experience.

In our last Museum Spotlight piece, we looked at the wonderful Daum and Gallé museums in Nancy, France. This week we are shifting our focus to Lalique and telling you about the two top museums in the world to see his pieces.

Lalique Museum Hakone, Japan

Located in the beautiful nature area of Sengokuhara, the Lalique Museum Hakone owns a collection of more than 1,500 Lalique pieces that include jewellery, perfume bottles and flower vases.

There are always 230 pieces on display and the theme of the exhibition is changed twice a year.

A wonderful feature of this museum is the opportunity to have tea in the Orient Express Car, the glass panels for which were created by Lalique. (Reservation required: 2100 yen). 

The Musée Lalique

The Musée Lalique is located in the village where René Lalique set up his glassworks in 1921. The museum boasts a fabulous collection of more than 650 exceptional pieces created by René Lalique and his heirs and includes jewellery, drawings, perfume bottles, tableware items, chandeliers, radiator mascots and vases.

Visiting the museum is an immersive experience thanks to the large format photographs and audiovisual presentations.

These museums have by far the largest and grandest collections of Lalique pieces on display at the moment. Also well worth a visit is the…

Calouste Gulbenkian Museum

Located in Lisbon, Portugal, the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum is home to a truly exceptional collection of works by René Lalique that is thought to be quite unique in its quality and consistency.

Between 1899 and 1927, Calouste Gulbenkian acquired eighty of Lalique’s works of art and amassed the largest collection of his original jewellery pieces in existence. It is written that he was a friend of Rene Lalique for fifty years and he is noted for saying “Only the best is good enough for me,” in reference to his vast hoard of high quality art.

Lalique in Museums

You can also find over 100 pieces on display at the Corning Museum of Glass, New York, and tens of pieces at both the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the various Brighton Museums. 

St. Matthews Glass Church

Located in Jersey, St. Matthews Glass Church is not a museum, but a permanent exhibition of the world’s greatest glass artisan – a truly special place that is well worth visiting.

The church was rebuilt by Florence Boot in the memory of her late husband Jesse, the owner of Boots the Chemist. She conjured the talents of René Lalique, the foremost glassmaker of the age, to decorate the entire church with his finest work. No similar Lalique commission survives anywhere else in the world and it is truly spectacular.

As leading dealers of Lalique in the UK, we also have some stunning pieces you can view either at our gallery, located at 85 Portobello Road, one of the many antiques fairs we exhibit at throughout the year, or on our website.

If you would like to learn more about Lalique, take a look at our Know Your Artists post on him here, or come and visit us at one of the antiques fairs where we regularly exhibit – see forthcoming events page.