INDOC. Documentation Centre about Art and Nature

The Maeght Foundation: a unique site devoted to art

The Maeght Foundation, set up in 1964, is located in the commune of Saint Paul de Vence (Provence), just 12 km from Nice, the capital of the French Riviera and a leading tourist destination. It was the first foundation of its type to be established in France.

The 9285-m² site is situated on a hill and offers a magnificent view of the surrounding Mediterranean landscape, where pine groves abound.

The main aim of the foundation since it opened in 1964 has been to promote all forms of modern and contemporary art.

Over 100 exhibitions have been presented since it first opened its doors. The museum holds one of Europe’s most important collections of 20th-century painting and sculpture, including works by Bonnard, Braque, Calder, Chagall, Giacometti, Léger and Miró, among others.

The building, designed by Spanish architect Josep Lluis Sert, was constructed to house the Maeght Collection, as well as a library with 40,000 books, the exhibition hall, and offices. It interacts with its natural surroundings, adapting to the site’s irregular surface. The building is made of stone, cement and brick, and the site also includes courtyards and gardens.

There are four distinct areas:

• the entrance garden, where works by artists such as Jean Arp, Marc Chagall and Georges Braque are displayed, and where the foundation’s cafe is located;

• a chapel, which includes a courtyard with a Braque mosaic on the bottom of a pool, as well as a number of exhibition rooms;

• the Giacometti courtyard, where there’s a bookshop, screening room, secretary’s office, archives, another exhibition room, and a terrace roof;

• the Miró labyrinth, which is filled with works by the artist, including La Fourche and Le Grand Arc.

Activities organised by the foundation include thematic lectures on the exhibitions staged, given by prominent writers, poets, philosophers and art historians.

More information and contact

Fondation Maeght

06570 Saint-Paul, France

Tel.: +33 (0)4 93 32 81 63

E-mail: contact@fondation-maeght.com  

• Website of Fondation Maeght

Source: texts, CDAN; photographs provided by the Maeght Foundation. © Archives Fondation Maeght.

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