The company behind a museum devoted to Serge Gainsbourg, one of France's most loved – and notorious – musicians has gone into receivership barely a year after it opened, according to court rulings.
Reservations are booked through the end of the year to visit the singer's home on Paris's Left Bank immaculately preserved with Gainsbourg's weird and wonderful bric-a-brac exactly as he left it when he died in 1991
But unpaid bills, dubious management and legal disputes have dogged Maison Gainsbourg, according to an investigation carried out by a French news site, L'Informé. Two days before its one-year anniversary on September 20, the Paris commercial court put SEHPSGA, the company behind the project, in receivership over unpaid bills. A court-appointed manager will now oversee the company in a bid to avoid bankruptcy.
"The company is profitable," said Jean Aittouares, a lawyer for the French icon's daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg, the film and music star who is one of the project partners. "But it has accumulated an old debt linked to its start-up and it cannot meet this short-term debt," Aittouares told Agence France-Presse (AFP), dismissing claims that Maison Gainsbourg would close.
This is not the first time Maison Gainsbourg has been embroiled in controversy. Following a legal dispute between co-partners Charlotte Gainsbourg and property developer Dominique Dutreix in March 2023, a court found evidence of financial irregularities and that Dutreix had breached French commercial law.
Moreover, the Paris commercial court said there were outstanding payments of around €1.6 million to suppliers, including for security, cleaning, and the electricity bill. Dutreix was ordered to reimburse €1.5 million. The case changes things, said lawyer Aittouares, adding his client Charlotte Gainsbourg realized how much had been "embezzled" and that "creditors went unpaid."
AFP contacted Dutreix's lawyer, who had no further comment. Despite the turmoil, Maison Gainsbourg is fully booked through the end of the year.