Press - It's an extraordinary museum
A mecca for modern and contemporary art on the heights of Nice, the Maeght Foundation is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Visit to a solar site.
In Saint-Paul-de-Vence (Alpes-Maritimes), near Nice, in the middle of serene nature and majestic umbrella pines, a unique place in the world has welcomed you for fifty years: the Maeght Foundation. “Here something has never been attempted: to create the universe in which modern art could find both its place and this back world which was once called the supernatural! » said, poetically, André Malraux, on July 28, 1964, during the inauguration, in the presence of Yves Montand, Marc Chagall, Joan Miro and Ella Fitzgerald, among others. General de Gaulle's Minister of Cultural Affairs was right. Because, yes, the private establishment created by the patron and art dealer Aimé Maeght (1906-1981) and his wife Marguerite is not a museum like any other.
A dialogue between art and nature
The site is an invitation to calm and serenity. Particularly thanks to the luminous architecture designed by the Catalan Josep Huis Sert (1902-1983), but also thanks to its gardens, where the labyrinth of the sculptor Miro, the mosaics of the painter Chagall or the basin decorated by the cubist Braque are revealed between shadow and light. To celebrate its 50th anniversary, this enchanted haven is hosting an exhibition this year entitled “Facing the Work”. All he had to do was draw from his immense collection where the biggest names (Giacometti, Kandinsky, Matisse, Calder...) rub shoulders with lesser-known artists. A mixture of paintings, sculptures and styles claimed by the Foundation since its birth. And a reminiscence of those joyful and colorful times when artists created and celebrated on the hills of Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Here, over the years, friendships and bridges with other disciplines such as philosophy, poetry, music and dance were born.
Yoyo Maeght, granddaughter of Aimé and Marguerite, recounts this flamboyant era in a book which traces the incredible daily life of an extraordinary family. In Saint-Paul-de-Vence, the Maeghts hosted and organized memorable parties in the house and gardens. Is it the breath of this artistic enchantment that the 200,000 visitors come to seek each year? We felt this breath.”
The Maeght Saga, by Yoyo Maeght, Robert Laffont 36 p., €21.50 signed by Yoyo Maeght.
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