It was an ordinary day. Motoring up steep hills, passing roads to Friar's Bay and Pic Paradise, descending into grassy pastures on the north side of the island known as St. Martin. While on this road we pass a nondescript white stucco building, high on a hill, with a sign that reads "ART - Minguet - ART GALLERY."
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| View of the Minguet Art Gallery from main road in St, Martin. |
Easy to miss since it is on a very busy curve in the road and if you take time to search for it you may find horns sounding and cars inches from your rear bumper. So, why would anyone want to open an art gallery on a road such as this? Well, the artist picked this spot on purpose, since there is no way you can miss it. For many, it is their destination and they are prepared for the traffic and trying to enter the parking lot in front of the store. This gallery is for serious art patrons. The gardens and patio out front are loaded with Bouganinvillea flowing over a pink picket fence and some cactus and other tropical plants brighten the entrance. There is a balcony above the garden and storefront, where there is obviously an apartment.
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| Inside the entrance to the gallery |
As you enter the glass doors to the reception area, there's a melange of art and marketing! Books on Minguet, postcards on Minguet and posters and photos of Minguet are for sale; with Minguet being the one and only Alexandre Minguet. Behind the long shop counter stands a woman with long, dark hair who introduced herself to us as Catherine Minguet, the daughter of the artist. She enjoyed talking about her father and the magnitude of paintings that line the walls of the gallery. I pulled my camera to my face and was told...No Photos, please! She told us that her father, Minguet, had died in 1996, but his work is still in galleries worldwide.  |
| Still life painted by Minguet |
He owned the one we were standing in on Rambaud Hill and one in his home in the country of France. She now owns both of them. Her father was born in France in 1937 and educated in the art academies in France. He eventually fell in love with the French side of the island of St. Martin/Sint Maarten and moved to the island. He was 59 years old when he died. His photo in the gallery shows him to be a rotund fellow with a beard and bald head. You can tell of the love that Cathrine had for her father by the way she talks about him and his work. Most of the pieces in the gallery were priced in the thousands of dollars, above the budget of my wife and I since we were on the island to enjoy the beaches more so than the art of the island. We did find two lithograph prints that we loved and purchased them.  |
| Poster for the gallery |
The volume of paintings in the gallery was amazing and I could only guess the value of the prints I was viewing as I stood between my wife Carol and Catherine. We have made several more visits to the gallery since our initial stop, but mostly to stop and talk with Catherine about her father and his immense gallery of work. If you ever find yourself on the island of St. Martin/Sint Maarten (Dutch side of island), travel the main island road and you will be treated to one of the most interesting art galleries you can imagine. And, even after all our years of traveling to the island, I'm sure there are plenty of original prints to buy that were painted by Alexandre Minguet. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - The two following prints are from my collection.
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