Originally from Avallon, Burgundy, Gaston Chaissac (1910 - 1964) comes from a modest background. He discovered art in Paris in 1937 through his encounter with Jeanne Kosnick-Kloss and Otto Freundlich, who encouraged him to paint. His first solo exhibition took place in Paris, Galerie Gerbo, in 1938. During the war, in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, he met with Albert Gleizes some great names in the art world, notably André Bloc, who supported him from a distance. Chaissac laid the foundations of his artistic commitment in the late 1930s. He arrived in Vix, in the Vendée, in August 1942, then followed his wife Camille, a lay teacher, during her changes of assignment, first in Boulogne (1943 - 1948), then in Sainte-Florence (1948 - 1961) and again in Vix from July 1961.
Gaston Chaissac crosses in his immediate environment, his «visual field», the very ordinary materials and characters who under his leadership become artistic motifs. As a chronicler of the Goose, he recounts in his abundant correspondence the small events and meetings that punctuate his daily life. As the inventor of the “modern rustic painting”, he made paths, woods, construction sites and dumps of the Vendée, his playgrounds and collected a whole collection of everyday and used objects, which he transformed with his talents as an outstanding colourist.
The MASC retains the most important public collection devoted to the work of Gaston Chaissac: more than two hundred and fifty works and some five hundred letters. A first retrospective was devoted to him in 1969, followed by several temporary exhibitions. The museum has dedicated a permanent exhibition hall to the artist since 1973 and also houses the Gaston Chaissac Study Centre, which gathers reference material on the artist.