20 years : moving at the Blachère Foundation
Shaken by a visit to an artist's studio in Senegal, Jean-Paul Blachère, head of a small business specializing in festive urban lighting, returned to Provence with a brilliant idea: to create a foundation to celebrate contemporary African art. For its twentieth anniversary, the Fondation Blachère is giving itself a facelift. The institution has moved from the industrial zone of Apt to the former railway station in the commune of Bonnieux, 30 minutes away. The new art center now boasts 500 m2 of exhibition space and a magnificent view of the countryside, in the heart of the Lubéron. The first exhibition, entitled "Chimère", is inspired by the strange creatures that Mauritanian sculptor Oumar Ball fashions from the Peul fables of his childhood.
Chimères 30.06.23 → 18.11.23
30 years, the prime of life for Carré d'Art
Built on the ruins of the old Nîmes theater, destroyed by fire in 1952, the building designed in 1993 by British architect Norman Foster houses both the museum of contemporary art and the central lending library. The high-tech framework faces the columns of La Maison Carrée, the only completely preserved temple in the ancient world. An emblem of modernity in the heart of Gard, Carré d'Art is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary with an exhibition entitled La Mélodie des choses, an exceptional presentation of works from the 1960s to the present day, including pieces from Nouveau Réalisme, the Supports-Surfaces movement, and French and German paintings from the 1980s.
The melody of things → 31.12.23
40 years of FRAC Sud: onwards and upwards!
The Fonds régional d'art contemporain Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur is not experiencing a mid-life crisis. The institution, created in 1983 like its 22 French counterparts, will change its name in 2023 to "Frac Sud - Cité de l'art contemporain". This year also marks the tenth anniversary of the inauguration in Marseille's La Joliette district of the glass vessel designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. Like a dazzling faceted ball, the edifice aims to spread contemporary art throughout the southern region. In June 2022, British "walking artist" Hamish Fulton spent 21 days surveying this territory. The results of his wanderings through the Mercantour National Park (texts, murals, drawings, photos...) are exhibited alongside a variety of works from walks undertaken since 1969.
A Walking Artist, Hamish Fulton → 29.10.23
Fireworks for the 40th anniversary of 3 bis f
3 bis f is the result of a rather crazy experiment: transforming a wing of the Montperrin psychiatric hospital in Aix-en-Provence into a contemporary art center. 3 bis f is the name given to the wing where women were interned when the hospital was built at the end of the 19th century. In the early 1980s, outpatient psychiatric activity freed up the premises. In 1983, it was converted into a venue for exhibitions and residencies for visual and performing artists, with the aim of developing research and creative projects, and fostering encounters with nursing staff, patients and the public. In 2023, 3 bis f celebrates its 40th anniversary, with an artistic and festive July 14th to close the season.
Invisible struggles, Cathryn Boch → 02.09.23
Half a century for the Musée national Marc Chagal
In 1966, Marc Chagall of Nice presented the French state with 17 canvases making up what he called the Message Biblique. Seven years later, on July 7, 1973, the painter's 86th birthday, the Musée national Message Biblique Marc Chagall opened its doors to welcome this series illustrating Genesis, Exodus and the Song of Songs, as well as other works of religious and spiritual inspiration, such as stained-glass windows and sculptures. Further donations and acquisitions followed, and today the establishment boasts one of the largest collections of works by the artist. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the inauguration, the exhibition Chagall et moi! invites artists, writers, dancers and musicians to share their contemporary interpretations of the paintings from the Biblical Message.
Chagall and me! 50 years of the Marc Chagall National Museum → 08.01.24
The Matisse Museum: 60 years in Nice
In 1950, the City of Nice acquired the Villa Garin de Cocconato, located a stone's throw from Henri Matisse's home in Le Regina. The location seemed perfect to accommodate the donations made by the master himself, as well as those of his heirs. On January 5, 1963, Gaëtan Picon, Director General of Arts and Letters in André Malraux's Ministry of Culture, gave the inaugural speech for the Musée Matisse: "From now on, no one can claim to know the work of Henri Matisse without visiting the Musée de Nice". 60 years later, his words are still relevant today. The anniversary exhibition focuses on the crucial decade of the 1930s, when Matisse left France for a trip to the United States and then Tahiti. This period, which marked a turning point in his work, is considered from the angle of Matisse's presence in the magazine Cahiers d'art, then one of the main relays of the international avant-garde.
Matisse in the 1930s. Through "Cahiers d'Art" 23.06.23 → 24.09.23
100 years: the Villa Noailles becomes the doyenne
In December 1923, architect Robert Mallet-Stevens designed a villa on the heights of Hyères for Viscount Charles de Noailles and his wife Marie-Laure. The specifications were simple. The client wanted "a small, interesting house to live in". With its play of light, the cube-shaped residence was a manifesto of modern art. For the patron couple, the Villa Noailles became a meeting place for the artistic avant-garde and free spirits. Giacometti, Gide, Cocteau, Picasso, Dalí, Buñuel and Man Ray, who shot his first surrealist film there in 1929 (Les Mystères du château de Dé), all met there. Sold in 1973 to the town of Hyères, the house on the hill is today a contemporary art center that honors the great names and supports young artists in the fields of fashion, architecture, design and photography. One hundred years after its birth, the Villa Noailles has not aged a day.
Design Parade Hyères - 17th international design festival 24.06.23 → 25.06.23
