The staging of artwork in the Museum of Dom Robert and tapestries of the 20th century allows visitors to discover the process of creating a tapestry, from the drawing, the mock-up, and the cartoon (the 1:1 scale of the project) to the finished artwork. The exhibition is rotated every three years, for reasons of conservation and so that visitors, upon returning, can eventually experience the whole collection.

The tapestry collection

The collection of the Goubely workshop

This collection of tapestries, which covers an area of around 350m2, is mainly drawn from the collection of the Goubely workshop, one of the most renowned in Aubusson. It was bequeathed to the Abbey of En Calcat by Suzanne Goubely in 199. This collection included about 10 tapestries by Dom Robert and some thirty other artworks woven by the workshop, mainly created by artists such as Mario Prassinos and Michel Tourlière but also including Pierre Fulcrand, Nils Furto, Marcel Gromaire, Théo Kerg, Jacques Lagrange, Jean Lurçat, Pierre Sicard, Gustave Singier and Boris Taslitzky

From 1997 to 2005, the collection was supplemented by ordering the weaving of about thirty cartoons (non-tradeable) by Dom Robert. These were produced by the weavers of the Goubely workshop, renamed the La Beauze workshop when it was taken over by the Abbey of En Calcat in 1997.  In December 2004, an additional rendering of the La Création de l'homme (The Creation of Man)—until then a 1946 cartoon used to produce a sole tapestry—was finished up and taken off the loom. It is one of the prominent works of art woven during this period.

At the same time, the monks had enriched the collection by acquiring from public auctions and private owners some twenty tapestries by Dom Robert.

In 2012, a convention was drawn up between the Abbey of En Calcat with the joint association governing the Abbey-school of Sorèze in order to deposit the set of artworks as well as the Goubely workshop archives. In 2015, the thirty-three tapestries of other artists were donated.

In 2024, the reweaving of Dom Robert tapestries by the La Beauze workshop were donated to the museum, as well as the tapestry cartoons and the archives of the Goubley workshop.

Acquisitions since the opening of the museum in 2015

The monks of the Abbey of En Calcat have continued to be patrons of the collection by acquiring tapestries and watercolors by Dom Robert from auction houses or individual owners, and thereafter depositing them in the museum. 

At the same time, the museum's collection of tapestries has been enriched by other donations :

in 2016, Dom Robert's L'Arbre d'or (The Golden Tree), donated by the Talamona family;

in 2020, ten tapestries by Pierre Sulmon (1932-2008) were donated thanks to his widow Mme. Dominique Sulmon-Chevalier;

in 2021, Dom Robert's Compagnons de la Marjolaine, a large embroidery of three ponies in a field, donated by Mme Dizerbo-Le Minor;

in 2022, ten tapestries from the studio collection of Yves Millecamps (born 1930), donated by the artist himself.

in 2025, a collection of Jacques Brachet (1928-2024) …

The collection of tapestry cartoons

The tapestry cartoons constitute a very substantial set of graphic and pictorial works of art. There are 171 cartoons, including 91 by Dom Robert, 65 by artists who worked with the Goubely workshop (deposit 2012), 5 by Pierre Sulmon (2020 donation) and 10 from Yves Millecamps (2022 donation). Most of them are autographed, numbered, and sometimes painted. For conservation purposes, they are rolled up and kept on shelves in the museum's graphic works reserve.  In each rotation around ten are on display.

The cartoon is the indispensable tool for the weaving of tapestries: slipped under the warp of a low warp loom, it serves as a guide for the weaver. It provides the reference number of the wool, specific to each artist's palette, as well as technical information such as the interpenetration of forms of weaving called hatchings.

The collection of drawings, watercolors, lithographs …

This collection is mainly composed of drawings by Dom Robert, with more than 2,000 in 88 sketchbooks or on loose-leaf sheets. There are around twenty watercolors, including some which served as models for tapestries. 

Another important set of artwork, issuing from the collection of the Suzanne Goubely workshop, comprises around a hundred artworks by other 20th century artists, mainly lithographs from Yaakov Agam to Zao Wu-Ki and including Jacques Lagrange, Jean Lurçat, Mario Prassinos, Gustave Singier, Boris Taslitzki, Michel Tourlière, etc… Sometime later, the collection was enlarged with pictorial works from the Sulmon and Millecamps donations. 

On average, around a hundred are displayed in each rotation, either in cabinet drawers, on the wall, or in display cases. The rest are stored in the graphic art reserve, in filing cabinets designed to hold large-sized prints.