22 MuseoMag N°III 2024 Portrait of Alexis Wagner ALEXIS WAGNER’S ARCHIVES Insights into the mind of an artist An archive is the documentary by-product of hu- man activity. Archives are an important source of information as they give us insights into past events. Preserving archives enriches our knowledge of the past and of the people and events that shaped our present. In the case of the Lëtzebuerger Konschtarchiv, artists’ estates are the product of artists’ creations and associated activities, such as exhibitions, sales and source material, amongst others. When these archives enter our collection, it’s important to un- derstand the context in which the artists worked and created or collected those documents. Applying the so-called ‘provenance principle’, meaning pre- serving the artist’s initial organisation of their docu- ments, gives us crucial information on and valuable insight into the artist’s work and daily life. A COLLECTION OF 215 NOTEBOOKS In 2023, the Lëtzebuerger Konschtarchiv received the estate of Alexis Wagner (1929-1989), a Luxem- bourg painter. This archive contains a lot of docu- ments relating to the artist’s own research, as well as exhibition documents, sketches, photographs, correspondence and newspaper articles. The largest part of the estate is a collection of 215 P-WAGA01-202301-02.3.2.1 Alexis Wagner Et Son Entourage. [without date]