Musée du Niel
In a renovated villa dating back to 1962, the Niel museum enjoys a favoured natural setting on the Giens peninsula. Overlooking the port of Niel, the 300m2 exhibition space opens up to the light between the landscape outside and the interior landscapes of the works of art. Dedicated to painting from the second half of the 20th century, the Niel museum puts on a new exhibition with a different theme each season to reveal the particularly innovative currents that still influence contemporary creation today. It is clear that at the very beginning of the 50s, with Paris as the undeniable centre and art capital of the era, non-figurative painting radiated throughout Europe and unfolded into multiple experimental paths, each one standing in contrast to the other such as lyrical to geometric abstraction or the CoBrA movement to that of the Supports-Surfaces. The artists, impelled by unprecedented momentum, broke with the past and lay a claim to the power of re-creating the world. They explored new pictorial languages and wrote an extraordinary chapter in the history of art. Amongst the successive layers of instruction, influence and inspiration, one concept remained predominant: that of abandoning the subject in favour of signs, gestures, sensations and light. In the end, the multiple array of paths converged at the escaping of limitations and at living art in unfettered freedom.
Jean-Michel Atlan, Olivier Debré, Jean Degottex, Jean Dewasne, Maurice Estève, Hans Hartung, André Marfaing, Jean Messagier, Jean Miotte, Gérard Schneider, Pierre Soulages, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Raoul Ubac, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva are among the 80 artists that have been brought together by the Niel museum.
In a renovated villa dating back to 1962, the Niel museum enjoys a favoured natural setting on the Giens peninsula. Overlooking the port of Niel, the 300m2 exhibition space opens up to the light between the landscape outside and the interior landscapes of the works of art. Dedicated to painting from the second half of the 20th century, the Niel museum puts on a new exhibition with a different theme each season to reveal the particularly innovative currents that still influence contemporary creation today. It is clear that at the very beginning of the 50s, with Paris as the undeniable centre and art capital of the era, non-figurative painting radiated throughout Europe and unfolded into multiple experimental paths, each one standing in contrast to the other such as lyrical to geometric abstraction or the CoBrA movement to that of the Supports-Surfaces. The artists, impelled by unprecedented momentum, broke with the past and lay a claim to the power of re-creating the world. They explored new pictorial languages and wrote an extraordinary chapter in the history of art. Amongst the successive layers of instruction, influence and inspiration, one concept remained predominant: that of abandoning the subject in favour of signs, gestures, sensations and light. In the end, the multiple array of paths converged at the escaping of limitations and at living art in unfettered freedom.
Jean-Michel Atlan, Olivier Debré, Jean Degottex, Jean Dewasne, Maurice Estève, Hans Hartung, André Marfaing, Jean Messagier, Jean Miotte, Gérard Schneider, Pierre Soulages, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Raoul Ubac, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva are among the 80 artists that have been brought together by the Niel museum.
Programme
The Pathways to Abstraction
17 non-figurative artists in conversation with Jean Grenier
Just 60 years ago, in the spring of 1963, Calmann-Lévy published a book with the mysterious title: Entretiens avec 17 peintres non figuratifs (Interviews with 17 nonfigurative painters). This collection assembled the transcripts of 17 radio interviews that took place between 1959 and 1961 on the RTF (Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française). Writer, philosopher, professor of aesthetics at the Sorbonne, Jean Grenier was the interviewer of 17 painters: Camille Bryen, Jacques Busse, Michel Carrade, Olivier Debré, Jean Deyrolle, Robert Fontené, Oscar Gauthier, Jacques Germain, André Marfaing, Jean Messagier, Zoran Music, Joseph Sima, Pierre Soulages, Arpad Szenes, Raoul Ubac, Gérard Vulliamy, Léon Zack. Representative of the great movement towards non-figuration in the French post-war period, this exhibition tries to explain the paths they took, when, why and how. For the first time, thanks to the INA (Institut national de l’audiovisuel) archives, we can listen to the voices of the painters whilst looking at their paintings.
Access
Musée du Niel
6 route du Port du Niel, Giens, 83400 Hyères
04 94 91 74 22
f.denis@museeduniel.com
www.museeduniel.com
Ouvert du 3 juin au 30 septembre, tous les jours sauf le mardi, de 11h à 19h (dernière entrée à 18h)
Access by car to the port of Niel is very limited during the high season. It is best to go there on foot or by bicycle from the center of the village of Giens. A free shuttle bus runs from the village parking lot to the port du Niel with a stop in the center of Giens.
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PLACES TO DISCOVER
• Le jardin botanique du Château Noir, 333, Chemin du Casteou Negre, La Madrague
• Les sentiers du littoral à partir du Port du Niel vers la Tour Fondue (4km) ou vers la plage des Darboussières (1,7km)
• Location de bateaux, de kayaks et de paddles sur le port du Niel : XL Yachting, La petite flottille
• Plongée sous-marine : La fée plongée
Un petit train gratuit débute son trajet depuis la plage de l’Almanarre jusqu’au village de Giens en bordant les plages de la Route du Sel (en service du 1er juillet au 31 août).
PLACES TO STAY/EAT
• Le Provençal, Le Domaine de la Mer, Le Lodge des Iles d’Or, le Lido Beach.
Et la restauration sur les terrasses du musée bien sûr !
