France Guide
The Côte d'Azur
The Fondation Maeght
Opening time: Daily: July– Sept 10am–7pm; Oct– June 10am–6pmPrice: €11
The fortified village of ST-PAUL-DE-VENCE is home to yet another artistic treat, and one of the best in the whole region: the remarkable Fondation Maeght, created in the 1950s by Aimé and Marguerite Maeght, art collectors and dealers who knew all the great artists who worked in Provence. The Nice– Vence bus has two stops in St-Paul: alighting at the Village-Fondation Maeght stop, the first on the way up from Nice, the Fondation is a left turn up the hill from the roundabout; from the village centre, head uphill along the steep street opposite the entrance to the village itself. By car or bike, follow the signs just before you reach the village, off the D7 from La-Colle-sur-Loup or the D2 from Villeneuve.
Once through the gates, any idea of dutifully seeing the catalogue of priceless museum pieces crumbles; this, instead, is a sublime fusion of art, modern architecture and landscape. Alberto Giacometti's Cat is sometimes stalking along the edge of the grass; Miró's Egg smiles above a pond; it's hard not to be bewitched by the Calder mobile swinging over watery tiles, by Léger's Flowers, Birds and a Bench on a sunlit rough stone wall, or by the clanking tubular fountain by Pol Bury. The building itself is superb: multi-levelled, flooded with daylight and housing a fabulous collection of works by Braque, Miró, Chagall, Léger and Matisse, among others. Not everything is exhibited at any one time, and during the summer, when the main annual exhibition is mounted, none are on show, apart from those that make up the decoration of the building.