Artistic life

MUSEUM OF MODERN AND CONTEMPORY ART

Emphasis is given to the 1960-70 art movements, the New Realists and Pop Art creators. Its collection includes works from Arman, César, Raysse, Klein, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Christo, Tinguely, Villeglé, Hains, Rotella, Dufrêne, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Oldenbourg, Wesselman, and many others.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND PICTURE THEATER

This theatre is aimed at welcoming and offering photographic exhibitions, symposiums and conferences. Five exhibition rooms offer an opportunity to exhibit all trends, from photojournalism to plastic photo, from "straight photography" to digital picture: portraits, landscapes, reports and applied photography. One can find theoretical and practical training courses, a documentation centre, a multimedia computer network, a bookshop, a photo-coffee...

MATISSE MUSEUM

The Matisse Museum a magnificent 17th century Italian villa with distinctive red walls decorated with trompe l'oeil stands on a hill just above the center of Nice in the heart of an olive grove close to the Hotel Regina where Matisse lived. The park and nearby ruins were part of the ancient Roman City of Cemenelum, now known as Cimiez. The museum, modernized and expanded in 1993, now consists of the original 17th century villa and a sleek and modern adjoining structure that is partially underground.

The museum's collection is made up with the works donated by the Matisse himself who lived in Nice from 1917 to 1954; his heirs ; and with works lent by the State. The visitor will discover Matisse's evolution from his early student copies to his mature work.

MARK CHAGALL MUSEUM

Located in the heart of a Mediterranean garden , the museum has a permanent exhibition of Chagall's outstanding paintings, his stained-glass windows which decorate the concert hall and a mosaic that Chagall created especially for the building. Also presented are a mixture of Chagall's gouaches, preparatory sketches, engravings, lithographs, art books, as well as, major works acquired or donated to the museum's collection after Chagall's death in 1985.

MUSEUM-GALLERY ALEXIS AND GUSTAV ADOLF MOSSA

An important father and son collection. Alexis Mossa ( 1844-1926 ) was the originateur of Nice's carnaval procession and a remarkable water-color landscape painter. His son, Gustav Adolph (1883-1971 ) continued in his father's steps and invented his own universal symbolism.

VILLA ARSON

Superb 18th century dwelling inserted in a vast architectural strucutre decorated with pebbles. Villa Arson houses an international art research pilot school, resident artists, and a national center for contemporary art. This institution, controlled by the Ministry of Culture, also organizes temporary art exhibitions, conferences, lectures, and publishes catalogs.