.Aimé Maeght and André Malraux

Aimé Maeght and André Malraux in the exhibition “The Imaginary Museum of André Malraux”, Fondation Maeght, July 1973.

July 28, 1964, presentation of the key to the Maeght Foundation by Flo.
Aimé, Flo and Yoyo, André Malraux and Marguerite Maeght.

In The Maeght Saga I trace the Aimé Maeght - André Malraux relationship as follows:

"Today, July 28, 1964, is the big day of the inauguration of the Maeght Foundation. A magical evening is planned. Ella Fitzgerald and Montand are going to sing. Mamy, in her vaporous long dress, is nervous, she comes, comes, rectifies, takes care of all the details The employees are reviewed, she does not hesitate to sew up a fold of this one's tunic herself, to put a rebellious lock in the bun of this one. There even the dogs are inspected, Mamy makes sure that they are thoroughly brushed because they will, of course, be part of the party. She controls everything: these flowers are discarded, too fragrant, this faded water lily must be removed from the garden. basin of the entrance, the gravel of the paths must be carefully raked She also examines the surroundings because, to access the Foundation there is only a thin ribbon of tar which winds in the woods from the village, even the. small road is swept Each guest is provided with a pass The police try to channel the large limousines and the sedans of the official personalities which clutter the surroundings, the press cars get in the way while the vans of the last workers pass them. arrivals.

We children are not aware of this disorder. We live there, on the hill, in the house that Sert designed. Here we are, the three little Maeghts, dressed identically, three model little girls. Flo's long hair, like mine, is disciplined in beautiful buns, Isa's bangs are straightened down to the last hair, we laugh with the artists' children. As usual, the little Roux ones are with us, we're laughing happily. At Mamy's request, we catch the noisy frogs which could, a little later, disturb “The First Lady of Jazz”.

Suddenly, Flo's smile tightens, I turn around, why all these gendarmes, all these soldiers in uniform? They advance among divinely dressed guests, the tuxedo is required and the long dresses are even more beautiful than in the magazines. Only the entrance garden is accessible. Grandpa, smiling, radiant, gathered all three of us in front of him, facing André Malraux. There on a red cushion lies a golden key. Flo hands the precious present to Malraux, with a turn of the key, he opens the Foundation. The flashes crackle, the crowd rushes, Grandpa doesn't let go of my hand. I then understand that it is not our new home that we are celebrating this evening, but everyone's home.

During the sumptuous dinner given in the Giacometti courtyard, Aimé Maeght, surrounded by his most loyal supporters, the artists, stood up and said a few words. Malraux replied as follows:

I would like to try to clarify, beyond all the services you have rendered to the country throughout your entire life - because all this is the end of a life, not a sort of accident - I would like to try to clarify how This seems to me to be something quite different from a foundation and, if I may, how this evening perhaps has a historical character [...].

You have just tried here, by the fact that you have tried to probably summarize the sequence of loves of a life, by the fact that the painters who are there all happen to be, to some degree, either poets or men who powerfully express the poetry of our time, you have attempted to do something which is in no way a palace, in no way a place of decoration and, let's say it straight away, because the misunderstanding will grow and beautify, in no way a museum. This is not a museum.

When we were looking earlier at the piece of garden where the Mirós are, the same thing was happening as when we were looking at the room where the Chagalls were. These little horns that Miró reinvents with their incredible dreamlike power are creating in your garden with nature in the sense of trees, a relationship that has never been created.

When we talk about the foundation, the most famous American, that is to say Barnes, if she were here, she would have no connection with what you have done, she would be fifty years behind, because as admirable as she is is, she is a museum. But, here is attempted, with a result that we do not have to judge and which belongs to posterity, something is attempted that has never been attempted: to create the universe, to create instinctively and through love, the universe in which modern art could find both its place and this back world which was once called the supernatural [...].

Madam, Sir, I raise my glass to the one who, later, when in the place that was Paris the murmuring and leaning people bow, having written " here the painting grew between the paving stones " will come here and say " this report which is now our relationship with life and which is born from painting, it was perhaps obscurely born this night .” And when this no longer exists, then the man to whom I raise my glass will make a little inscription: “ Perhaps something of the spirit happened here. »

Marc Chagall, André Malraux and Aimé Maeght, July 28, 1964, inaugural evening of the Maeght Foundation

The two men are made to get along. Both played their role during the war, each to their own extent. Both have a premonitory sense and vision of the world of the arts. Both were crazy about art and had an almost passionate relationship with artists. On a private level, both had lost their son. And, finally, both have a science of seeing. Didn't Aimé keep this phrase from Claude Monet in his wallet: "You don't have to understand painting, you simply have to like to let the eye live its life." This is what they will do, considering the destiny of works as an integral part of human life. At the bottom of all this, there is the truth and sincerity of their passions and their outbursts. An instinct that proves unstoppable.

We do not really know how, probably in the time of Pierre à Feu, the great merchant and the great writer met. One thing is certain, they share the same desires. Malraux's role in the development of the Foundation is crucial. He is the one who accompanies the project, he who supports it, not only politically, but above all, and that is the word, sentimentally. There are no great achievements without love, without belief. When the Foundation dedicated its exhibition to him, The Imaginary Museum, in 1973, nine years after the opening of this mecca of modern art in France, Malraux was no longer the great servant of state that he had been to the General de Gaulle, but the great writer who knew how to talk about art better than anyone, confronting the entire history of civilizations. This July 12, inauguration day, is his triumph, perhaps the culmination of his life and his work.

Marc Chagall, André Malraux and Aimé Maeght during the inauguration of the Maeght Foundation, July 1964.

Aimé Maeght and André Malraux at the inauguration of the exhibition The Imaginary Museum of André Malraux, Fondation Maeght, July 1973.

Aimé Maeght and André Malraux in the exhibition "The Imaginary Museum" by André Malraux, Fondation Maeght, July 1973.

What words did Aimé and André exchange that evening? What conclusions did they draw from their exceptional destinies when they dined under the vine at Mas Bernard? An imaginary museum: what a genius idea! Bringing together the illustration of an entire life, the evocation of a thought which marked a century where art, precisely, was reborn.

It took a certain amount of nerve to do an anti-Louvre in the sun. It was the retrospective of a life, projected forward in a perpetual metamorphosis, the evocation of a surprisingly permanent aesthetic thought. This exhibition is an even more powerful oddity than the Antimemories because the works of art are there, alive, exposed to the visitors' retinas. The customs officer Rousseau, a Sumerian goddess, another Indian, a Pongwé mask, but also Tintoretto, Manet, Chardin, Fautrier, Füssli, Fragonard, an Amazonian doll but also Goya, Rouault, Picasso, Ensor, La Tour, Cézanne, Lautrec , Daumier, Braque, Miró, Chagall were invited to the Foundation that summer, under the curious eye of two enlightened amateurs, suggesting the vast possibilities offered by the arts. And this uninterrupted dialogue between Egyptian statuary and a character by Giacometti... With this curious look at these "durable splendors", art transfigures, art transcends, art loving.

Their friendship continued with a series of films. Is it at this moment that Aimé becomes aware of the need to create a memory? Here again Aimé innovates, he becomes producer and finances Les Métamorphoses du regard, three 52-minute films on Malraux: The Gods of the Night and the Sun — The Masters of the Unreal – The World Without Gods. At the Foundation, as in these films, all of Malraux is there. The one who possessed the art of convincing, the responsible writer, the enlightened amateur, knew how to give a universal dimension to art.

Aimé Maeght and André Malraux at the inauguration of the exhibition The Imaginary Museum of André Malraux, Fondation Maeght, July 1973.

Marc Chagall, André Malraux and Aimé Maeght during the inauguration of the Maeght Foundation, July 1964.

André Malraux and Marc Chagall at the inauguration of the Maeght Foundation, July 1964.

Le Douanier Rousseau, "The lion, being hungry, throws itself on the antelope", 1898-1905, 200 x 300 cm, in the exhibition The Imaginary Museum of André Malraux at the Maeght Foundation in 1973.

How can we not mention the exhibition which opened on July 3, 1973 at the Foundation: “The Imaginary Museum of André Malraux”? It brings together works from all eras, from all horizons. The sculptures of Giacometti dialogue with the Crouching Scribe of the Louvre, a Rembrandt faces a Tàpies, the paintings of Miró and Georges de La Tour illuminate the rooms, Asian masterpieces rub shoulders with marvels of medieval art, a Buddha from Gandhara converses with Lovers of Chagall who are sulking at a Goya.

It's dazzling and never before will such a variety of works be brought together with so much intelligence. It is in no way an accumulation of masterpieces, but the deployment of a rich thought, built over decades by Malraux and patiently developed in his writings. On the day of the inauguration André Malraux admitted: “It’s overwhelming to see my imaginary museum become reality. »

It was during this exhibition that Papy, a man of art, revealed himself to me. During the hanging which precedes the inauguration, packing crates clutter the rooms, curators from museums from all over the world are there to check the condition of the wonders loaned sometimes for the first time. We speak all languages ​​including sign language in case of misunderstanding. Everyone is busy, the opening is near. I am there, facing this immense canvas by Douanier Rousseau, this jungle fascinates me. I can't take my eyes off it. Grandpa is coming. Words come out of my mouth: “What is it? Why is it here? What is the Maeght Foundation? » There, while he is called from all sides, I see his face relax and he puts on a smile to respond to me calmly. He takes care to take my hand in his, like a medium, like a bonesetter to transmit his warmth to me. “This is what I have to do. This artist, today, no one wants him, he is still too modern even though he paints in such a classic way. They call him naive, it's ridiculous. So, I have to show it, expose it, defend it. The Foundation is both this obligation and this requirement. »

I am fourteen years old, that day I discovered that my grandfather had a role in the art world, previously I only thought that he lived surrounded by what he loved.