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Matisse Museum in Nice

Matisse Museum in Nice: Nice is a seaside resort of world renown in the same way as its homologues of Saint-Tropez and Cannes. There is however one thing that distinguishes Nice from the latter: it has many museums and is besides the city of the Cote d'Azur which counts the most. It is also the second French city, after Paris, to have the largest number of museums. Although Nice has not been crowned the title of Capital of art and culture like Marseilles in 2013, this city is turned towards art and its museums are mainly devoted to this subject.

Among these museums dedicated to Art, and especially painting, the Matisse Museum, located at 164 avenue des Arenes de Cimiez, is one of the most important institutions of its kind in the entire city. Its name is in tribute to the painter Henri Matisse, grand master of the discipline, an unavoidable figure of Fauvism, a trend of painting in vogue at the beginning of the 20th century. Henri Matisse resided and worked in Nice from 1917 to 1954 and the museum retraces mainly his artistic career and his evolutions from his beginnings to his last works.

The collections of the Matisse Museum are made up mainly of the works of the eponymous artist and Matisse, in person, was one of the first donors of the museum alongside private collectors, fans of the painter. These donations continued for a long time after the death of the artist, this time by his descendants, by state bodies and by anonymous. Thus, since its opening in 1963, the Matisse Museum has built up a very important collection of paintings, drawings, engravings, sculptures, illustrated books, photographs and objects belonging to the painter.

Located in the bucolic setting of the gardens of the Cimiez hill, the painter's promenade where centuries-old olive trees and Roman ruins mingle, the museum, housed in a 17th century Genoese residence, has since 1992 been extended to Contemporary forms. It is a place that really deserves the detour when you stay in Nice (even if you are not very focused on the art of painting). Nothing but to find oneself in the idyllic setting that shelters it is an experience apart, not to mention the wonder that one can not help feeling in front of works like "Still life with books", "Portrait of Mme Matisse "," Nu bleu IV "or" Flowers and Fruits ".