By Design: Hubert Bonnet

The Belgian art and design collector describes his south of France outpost of CAB, with galleries, restaurants and rooms to stay the night

“Twentieth-century design is the perfect match for minimalist art,” says collector Hubert Bonnet. And if anyone is in a position to judge, then this 53-year-old Belgian most certainly is. While he began his own art collection at age 30, acquiring works by Donald Judd and Robert Mangold (it also includes major pieces by Dan Flavin, Carl Andre, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Fred Sandback), among his design holdings are the best of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret.

At his not-for-profit Fondation CAB, which was launched in 2012 and housed in an exquisitely restored art deco warehouse in Brussels, he regularly displays both strands together (as well as offering residency opportunities to young artists). “People love the conversation between art and design,” he says. But it is at CAB’s south of France outpost, which opened in a 1950s building in Saint-Paulde-Vence in 2021, that visitors can truly luxuriate in these conjoined interests.

There, two galleries show both contemporary and historic minimalist artworks from Bonnet’s collection – currently the luminous sculptures of contemporary artist Ann Veronica Janssens that pay homage to her Light and Space antecedents – while the onsite restaurant is entirely furnished with sturdy wooden tables and chairs designed by Charlotte Perriand for Les Arcs ski station in 1972. Those wishing to stay the night will find themselves in rooms designed by French interiors star Charles Zana, filled with further highlights of French mid-century design. For total immersion, a Jean Prouvé demountable house is also available as a hotel room. While another, furnished exclusively in Prouvé’s work, is Bonnet’s favourite. “I always sleep there,” he says. “It’s a dream for me that all these pieces are no longer hidden away in a warehouse.”

Bonnet, whose family fortune comes from the steel industry, has personally pivoted to property development and seems almost as determined to collect houses too. They include a recently acquired villa in the well-heeled Belgian seaside resort of Knokke designed by Louis Herman de Koninck in 1937 – a minimalist architectural play on light and space that clearly speaks to Bonnet’s passions.

“Minimalism is really good for kids,” says the father of two. “It’s linear and geometrical. It’s quite wonderful to see how easily they understand and enjoy it.”

Right: Hubert Bonnet. Far right: Imi Knoebel, Mennigebild, 22/51, 1976 and Ann Veronica Janssens, Ice blue Bar, 2017 at Fondation CAB in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Photos: courtesy Fondation CAB

Imi Knoebel, Mennigebild, 22/51, 1976 and Ann Veronica Janssens, Ice blue Bar, 2017 at Fondation CAB in Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

Courtesy Fondation CAB