The Fondation Maeght Archives

The Fondation Maeght, the first foundation for modern and contemporary art in France, is celebrating its 60^th anniversary in the summer of 2024. A unique and timeless place on the French Riviera, where art, architecture and nature converse in perfect harmony, the Foundation Maeght is inaugurating a new 500 m² space, to display masterpieces from its collection: Braque, Léger, Chagall, Miró, Calder, Mitchell, Kelly…

The Cour Giacometti, Alberto Giacometti. Photo Olivier Amsellem – Archives Fondation © Succession Alberto Giacometti / ADAGP, Paris 2024

Friendship at the heart of the Fondation Maeght’s creation: a site for and with artists

The Fondation Marguerite et Aimé Maeght is now one of the great international cultural institutions. Opened in 1964, the Foundation was born from the friendships between the collectors couple Aimé and Marguerite and several of the most important artists of the 20^th century, including Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, Fernand Léger, Georges Braque, Alberto Giacometti, Marc Chagall and many others.

The Cour Giacometti and Josep Lluís Sert’s architecture, Photo Olivier Amsellem – Archives Fondation

A unique place inspired by the great American foundations

Bereaved by the death of their second child in 1953, Aimé and Marguerite Maeght, encouraged by Georges Braque, traveled to the United States, where they visited the great American references – Guggenheim, Barnes, Phillips – and returned full of ideas and ambitions: the creation of a foundation.

The Cour Giacometti and Josep Lluís Sert’s architecture, Photo Olivier Amsellem – Archives Fondation

A masterpiece of modern architecture

In constant, close dialog with Aimé Maeght, architect Josep Lluís Sert designed a village architecture equally dedicated to artists and open and welcoming to art lovers. Josep Lluís Sert brought a modernist eye to the codes of the Mediterranean village – whiteness, earth, patios… Miró, Giacometti, Braque, Tal Coat, Chagall, Ubac created works that are integrated into the building and its natural surroundings: the Giacometti courtyard, the Miró Labyrinth, the mosaic murals by Chagall and Tal-Coat, the pool and stained glass by Braque, the Bury fountain.

Miró Labyrinth, 1964-1973, Photo Olivier Amsellem – Archives Fondation Maeght © Successió Miró / Adagp, Paris, 2024 / Le Jardin des sculptures, Alexander Calder, Les Renforts, 1964, painted sheet metal. Photo Olivier Amsellem – Archives Fondation © 2024 Calder Foundation, New York / Adagp, Paris

One of the most important collections in Europe

The Fondation Maeght has one of the most important collections of paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints by modern and contemporary artists in Europe, with over 13,000 masterpieces by Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró, Pierre Bonnard, Marc Chagall, Alexander Calder, Georges Braque and many others.

Panoramic view of Saint-Paul-de-Vence © Office de Tourisme de Saint-Paul-de-Vence – Photographe : Elisabeth Rossolin

Saint-Paul-de-Vence, land of artists

In the heart of the French Riviera, the Fondation Maeght is located 25 km from Nice and near the famous village of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, considered as one of the most beautiful villages in Provence, and that was for many years a favorite destination for artists: Marc Chagall set up home here. Henri Matisse lived nearby in Vence. Jean-Paul Sartre, Pablo Picasso, Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Lino Ventura and the poet Jacques Prévert were regulars at the famous hotel-restaurant La Colombe d’Or. Today, Saint-Paul-de-Vence remains a very popular tourist destination, attracting over 2 million visitors a year.

Miró Labyrinth, 1964-1973, Photo Olivier Amsellem – Archives Fondation Maeght © Successió Miró / Adagp, Paris, 2024

The sculpture garden, a green oasis

As soon as visitors enter the Foundation, the lawns of the garden present ceramic work by Fernand Léger, a playful fountain by Pol Bury, Alexander Calder’s monumental stabile and a wind sculpture by Takis. In this garden, enclosed within a mosaic wall by Pierre Tal-Coat, the monumental sculptures are locked in permanent dialog: Jean Arp, Eduardo Chillida, Erik Dietman, Barbara Hepworth, Joan Miró… all presented to the rhythm of the seasons. Other works are incorporated directly into the buildings: the mosaic Les Amoureux (The Lovers) by Marc Chagall on the bookshop wall, and stained-glass windows by Georges Braque and Raoul Ubac that illuminate the St Bernard chapel. Not to mention Miró’s extraordinary labyrinth-garden, where visitors are led by an Ariadne’s thread as soon as they enter the Foundation.

The Foundation’s entrance – Photo Olivier Amsellem – Archives Fondation

The Fondation Maeght: a place of living art at the crossroads of art, fashion, music and dance

For over 60 years, and with more than 150 exhibitions featuring the great artists of the 20^th and 21^st centuries, the Fondation Maeght has truly impacted the history and dissemination of art with its unique vision. “Les Nuits de la Fondation Maeght”, a major event in contemporary music and dance, welcomed artists as singular and innovative as Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler, Terry Riley, la Merce Cunningham Dance Compagny, John Cage, Jasper Johns, Robert Morris, Frank Stella…

2024: a summer of celebrations

To celebrate this anniversary, the Fondation Maeght is presenting this summer, a special exhibition entitled ‘‘Amitiés, Bonnard-Matisse’’, which focuses on the friendly and respectful relationship between Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse and their links with the Maeght family. The Foundation is also opening the new exhibition spaces with the display of a selection of highlights from its collection. Finally, the Fondation Maeght is planning a month of celebrations including concerts, dance performances, lectures, documentary films and more. In the shade of the Foundation’s Aleppo pines, the restaurant-café “Sous les Pins”, with furniture designed by Diego Giacometti, offers a gourmet and committed cuisine showcasing the products of the Nice terroir.

The Fondation Maeght, the first foundation for modern and contemporary art in France, will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary in the summer of 2024. Founded in 1964 by the art dealers, publishers and lithographers Marguerite and Aimé Maeght, it was opened in Saint-Paul-de-Vence by André Malraux and immediately gained official recognition as serving the public good. The anniversary will be marked by a major summer exhibition, “Bonnard-Matisse, a friendship”, the opening of new exhibition rooms – dedicated this year to the permanent collection – and a month of celebrations including concerts, dance performances, film screenings, lectures and more.

Over 60 years and more than 150 exhibitions by great artists of the 20^th and 21^st centuries, the Fondation Maeght’s unique perspective has made a strong impression on the history and dissemination of art. Seeing the story of art through the prism of the friendship between the Maeght family, the Foundation and the artists makes it possible to move away from traditional academic approaches: art and life permanently bound together, from exhibitions to the Nuits de la Fondation evening events (dance, theatre, music etc.), picnics, dinners, boat trips and more. But after all, wasn’t it the artists themselves who encouraged the Maeghts to overcome the pain of losing their second son with a long trip to the United States in the 1950s? And then, by founding the Foundation, inspired by the major American figures they visited on their travels: Barnes, Guggenheim, Phillips…?

To celebrate this anniversary, the Fondation Maeght is presenting an exhibition designed specially for the occasion, “Bonnard-Matisse, a friendship, for the 60^th Anniversary of the Fondation Maeght”. From the 29^th of June to the 6^th of October, the exhibition will focus on the friendly, respectful relationship between Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse and explores their links with the Maeght family, who saw the two artist friends as geniuses of the 20^th century, while sharing the greatest – and the most everyday – moments of life with them.

Several themes surround this central focus, illustrated with many rare works and documents, including exceptional loans granted for the occasion. The exhibition explores the individual characters of the two masters but also, in mirroring one other, the specificities of each artist in their approaches to the same subjects: self-portraits, the street, the Mediterranean light, the painter and the model, etc.

This summer, the Fondation Maeght is also opening the new spaces created in 2023 and 2024, hanging a selection of iconic works from its collection. The architect Silvio d’Ascia, who was invited to design the new extension, has come up with four new rooms, two of which offer a unique view over the valley through large windows beneath the Giacometti and Miró courtyards. The Fondation Maeght will now be able to offer temporary, themed or retrospective exhibitions at the same time as hangings of its permanent collection in dedicated spaces. The extension to the building was designed with the greatest respect for the tree-lined site and the historic building by Josep Lluís Sert.

Finally, the Foundation, whose history reminds us that all artistic disciplines are intertwined, is planning a month of celebrations for its sixtieth birthday. These will run from the end of June until the 28^th of July, the anniversary of its opening in 1964, which was marked by a memorable concert featuring Ella Fitzgerald and Yves Montand. In 2024, the Fondation Maeght is once again scheduling dance performances, concerts, lectures, doctumentary films about Bonnard and Matisse, conferences, childre’s workshops, etc.

The Fondation Marguerite et Aimé Maeght was the first foundation in France dedicated to modern and contemporary art. Its public interest was recognised by ministerial decree on 15 May 1964. Since 1981, Adrien Maeght, Marguerite and Aimé Maeght’s son, has been Chairman of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees. The Board is made up of 11 members, including representatives of France’s Ministry of Culture, the Department of French Museums and the Ministry of the Interior, as well as four members of the Maeght family and four qualified individuals.

The Fondation Maeght celebrates its 60th anniversary this summer

The Fondation Maeght, in the French Riviera, celebrates its 60th anniversary this summer