Press - A life for art. Yoyo Maeght

Yoyo Maeght, granddaughter of Marguerite and Aimé, inspired patrons, tells her story in a book published by Robert Laffont: “The Maeght Saga”.

Yoyo Maeght: an immense need for freedom.

The world in which Yoyo Maeght and her sisters live is compartmentalized. A few weeks or a few months, with their parents, then with their maternal grandparents “in the countryside” near Saint Étienne. The rest of the time is spent with grandpa and grandma, creators of the Foundation. “I lived in separate worlds. I didn’t like school, I felt like I was losing my freedom there.” “Papy (Aimé Maeght) was a builder in everything. His garden in Saint Paul-de-Vence was Eden. Every day, he improved his property a little more... He invented beauty, happiness more than well-being. I thought it was fantastic.”

Foundling

One day, her mother tells her that she is a foundling. From then on, Yoyo's imagination wanders. “It wasn't painful, if it had been, my parents would have stopped the joke. I told myself that I was very lucky to have fallen into a family like mine where freedom reigned supreme. My parents had experienced the war, they had a thirst for life and did not know what to do with us, they said to themselves: “They will grow up on their own”. “All of this has influenced my life. I didn't want to have children, I was afraid of not knowing how to take care of them. I adopted those of my partner.”

The artists

“I have only worked in the art world. My passion has always been the world of artists to whom I have an immoderate love. Their works reassure me and complete the love I have for them. I’m a huge fan of their works.” Pleasant, painful to write this book? “A not morbid happiness, I'm talking about people I loved madly. Grandpa is still alive for me, just like Miro, Tzara, Prévert... Malraux and the others. I searched the archives a lot to write. It was like a treasure hunt with my grandfather.”

Comments collected by Éliane Faucon-Dumont

Order The Maeght Saga here

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