.Maeght Foundation

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The Marguerite and Aimé Maeght Foundation is a unique place, created by a couple who love the arts, friends of the greatest artists, Bonnard, Matisse, Braque, Léger, Chagall, Giacometti, Calder and Miró. The Maeghts wanted to offer painters, sculptors, musicians and all contemporary creators a setting and a high-performance tool to ideally present their works.

Located on the wooded hills of the hinterland of the Côte d'Azur, between Cannes and Nice, the Foundation deploys its buildings in unspoiled nature, hanging above the Mediterranean. The Foundation is nestled in a pine forest where the smells of lavender, jasmine and orange blossom contribute to the magic of the place. In summer, the song of the cicadas punctuates the days, relayed, in other seasons, by the chirping of the birds that populate this little paradise.

“I had six hectares of land on Saint-Paul hill. I built my house there. But one of my sons died, and I didn't want anything anymore. It was again the painters who suggested to me the path to follow. Georges Braque encouraged me to do something that would help me overcome my pain: a place of modern art among thyme and rosemary. And Fernand Léger told me: If you do that, I'll bring you my smear. I'll even paint the rocks. » Liked Maeght.

In 1953, after the death of their youngest son, Bernard, and after months of fighting leukemia, Aimé and Marguerite decided, on the advice of Léger, to go to the United States to see the major foundations: Barnes, Phillips , Guggenheim. Aimé's idea becomes clearer. He dreams of a place to gather his collection and where his artist friends could work and exchange ideas. “I needed air and space, I didn't want a super-gallery but something else that would belong to the community and that would be an independent company to be able to act. » Aimé already has a clear vision of the role he wants to play: “The relationship between art and the State cannot be normal. I claim that it is extremely difficult for a state organization to take care of Living Art. This is not his job. It must preserve and educate. »

Artists are used to coming to Saint-Paul-de-Vence, to the Maeghts at “Mas Bernard” or to the Auberge de la Colombe d’Or. Braque spends the winter months there. Joan Miró and her family prefer summer. Around them are poets and writers. Prévert, Frénaud, Eluard, Sartre, Char, Reverdy, Paulhan and others will come there. The Maeghts do everything to make their friends feel at home. They are so comfortable there that they will do everything to support Aimé so that the big dream becomes reality. All the artists in the Gallery are passionate about the project. Everyone proposes, invents, builds. Aimé listens, synthesizes, organizes.

Entirely designed and financed by the couple Aimé and Marguerite Maeght, the Foundation was inaugurated on July 28, 1964. The Foundation is a remarkable example of timeless architecture designed to present modern and contemporary art in all its forms. The large white impluviums give the whole a lightness and a graphic identity known and recognized worldwide. The Foundation offers its 150,000 annual visitors a stroll between art and nature, notably in the exceptional sculpture garden and in the Labyrinth, a monumental work of Land Art by Joan Miró.

The Marguerite and Aimé Maeght Foundation has one of the most varied and substantial European collections of modern and contemporary art, paintings, sculptures and graphic works . The founders offered the Foundation a large part of their personal collection and encouraged artists to create specific works to embellish the collections.

The artists that Aimé Maeght exhibited in his galleries are mainly represented in the collections. They can be classified into two categories:

• Great Historical Masters of the 20th century
  • Pierre Bonnard
  • Wassily Kandinsky
  • Henri Matisse
  • Georges Braque
  • Marc Chagall
  • Alberto Giacometti
  • Alexander Calder
  • Fernand Léger
  • Bram van Velde
  • Andre Derain
  • Joan Miro
• Post war generation
  • Adami
  • Alechinsky
  • Baya
  • Bazaine
  • Bury
  • Chillida
  • Gasiorowski
  • Kelly
  • Lindner
  • Monory
  • Palazuelo
  • Rebeyrolle
  • Riopelle
  • Steinberg
  • Tal Coat
  • Tapies
  • Ubac

Aimé Maeght and Georges Braque

Aimé Maeght was a brilliant supporter of artists by being a collector, patron, gallery owner, producer, printer and publisher. During his life he published more than 12,000 original lithographs and engravings; he, of course, kept copies of each of his editions or productions at the Foundation. The Foundation thus has a collection of prints of a variety, diversity and historical quality envied by many museums.

For more than 50 years, the Foundation has permanently presented part of its collections and presents several temporary exhibitions annually.

In 2011, after having been an administrator of the Foundation, Yoyo Maeght left the Board of Directors of the Marguerite and Aimé Maeght Foundation, disapproving of the programming and no longer feeling the innovative spirit that was so dear to his grandfather, Aimé Maeght.

List of exhibitions at the Maeght Foundation since 1964. Download here