The Chateau de Belcastel is not only a historical landmark and architectural miracle-- it is also the home of several art galleries. Browse our featured and general exhibitions below to discover what awaits you at the castle this season. And don't forget to browse the Calendar of Events to learn about our upcoming celebrations. Join our mailing list to keep up to date with announcements and changes.
VIEW PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE CHATEAU'S VARIOUS GALLERIES, HERE
Featured Exhibition
The Art of Daniel Merriam
The Chateau de Belcastel is honored to announce that the art of Daniel Merriam, a key pioneer of the Imaginary Realism art movement will be returning to the Main Gallery in 2010.
This sale and exhibition will be on view during the Chateau de Belcastel’s normal hours of operation.
Original Armor
Permanent Exhibition
The collection of original medieval armor at the Chateau de Belcastel continues to grow! During the 2010 season, the Chateau will be unveiling more armor than ever before.
The Suits are on display throughout the Chateau, guarding the Great Hall, the Knight's Room, and the Blue Gallery.
General Exhibition
Dr. Seuss &Tim Burton
The Great Hall holds an astonishing collection of The Art of Dr Seuss. This exhibition includes rare original works by America's most beloved illustrator.
The Prison Gallery will delight visitors through its collection of fine art lithographs by the pop artist behind the PEANUTS paintings,Tom Everhart. These pieces, which have hung in the Louvre among another museums, feature renowned characters like Snoopy & Charlie Brown.
The Upper Gallery displays works by Tim Burton.
Fireworks
To Be Announced
The Chateau de Belcastel collaborates with the village of Belcastel every July for a memorable fete. After a feast of regional specialties, the children of Belcastel welcome the night with their traditional march of the torches. Once the sun disappears over the hills, an outstanding pyrotechnics show, choreographed to beautiful music, begins, set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Chateau.
Born in 1963 in York, Maine, Daniel Merriam grew up in Naples, a rural town within the vast, quiet spaces of Central Maine. One of seven children in a creative, artistic family, he taught himself to paint at a very young age and used his art as a method of reflective play throughout his childhood. He studied mechanical and architectural design at the Central Maine Vocational Technical Institute. While still in school, he applied his dimensional skills and passion for architecture in the family’s design and construction business.
He then turned his talents to the commercial art field, working as an architectural and commercial illustrator for a number of multi-national corporations. Merriam’s illustrations received numerous awards including several first-place Broderson Awards and the first-place New England Scholastics Press Association Award for his editorial cartooning.
Yet Merriam’s true passion remained painting the expression of his own vision. In 1987 he shifted his focus solely to fine art and had his first solo exhibition at Abacus Gallery in Maine. In the same year, the artist received an Honorary Masters of Humane Letters from the University of New England in recognition of the potential social contribution of his work. Since that time, Merriam has had over one hundred exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe.
In 1998, Monarch Editions, Inc. published The Art of Daniel Merriam: The Impetus of Dreams - selections from a decade of the artist’s work. The book’s second edition was published in 2002. The Impetus of Dreams was inducted into the permanent archives of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2005 and Peninsular Museum of Art in 2007. Merriam’s most recent catalogue reisonné The Eye of a Dreamer was released in October 2007. Both catalogues reisonné were included in the permanent library of the National Museum of American Illustration in 2007.
The artist’s work appears in Dreamscape: The Best of Imaginary Realism, Volume I and II, published by SALBRU PUBLISH (the Netherlands) in 2006 and 2007 respectively. Merriam has produced paintings for the covers of books by Paula Volsky and Neal Barrett Jr. published by Bantam Books, as well as for an international literary journal, Mid-American Review. Merriam’s work was used for the playbill of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare produced by the Tony® Award-winning McCarter Theatre in New Jersey.
Daniel Merriam has been interviewed on WCSH in Portland, Maine, KEYT in Santa Barbara, California, and KUSI News in San Diego, California. He has been the subject of feature articles in numerous national and international publications, such as Art & Antiques, IN New York, New Art International, The World & I, U.S. Art, and Watercolor Magic. Merriam’s work is included in the public collections of The Riverside Museum of Art in California, the Gesundheit! Institute in Virginia, and the Manhattan Club in New York, among others.