”Do something here, something that has no speculative purpose, something that allows us, as artists, to exhibit sculpture and painting in the best possible light and spatial conditions. Do it, I’ll help you.” Georges Braque

Some of the biggest names in 20th-century European sculpture, including Georges Braque, Joan Miró and Alberto Giacometti, came together to help create La Fondation Maeght, which has become France’s most important art foundation and is among the world’s leading cultural institutions. La Fondation was established by Aimé and Marguerite Maeght, a visionary couple who were publishers and art dealers, and who represented and were friends with some of the most important artists of the era, including Braque, Miró and Giacometti, as well as Alexander Calder, Fernand Léger, Marc Chagall, and many others.

La Fondation Maeght was opened on July 26, 1964, by Charles de Gaulle’s legendary Culture Minister André Malraux, a close friend of the Maeghts. It was France’s very first private art institution and was modelled on American institutions such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, the Barnes Collection and the Phillips Collection, which the couple visited during their frequent trips to the US in the 1950s.

Mr Adrien Maeght, son of Marguerite and Aimé Maeght, is the Chairman of the Board of Directors, which is composed of 11 members, including representatives of the Ministry of Culture, the Direction des Musées de France and the Ministry of the Interior, as well as four members of the Maeght family and four qualified individuals. It is directed by Nicolas Gitton since 2018

After the couple’s youngest son, Bernard, passed away from leukemia in 1953, fauvist and cubist artist Georges Braque prompted Aimé and Marguerite to imagine a new place for art in their property in the village of Saint-Paul de Vence on the French Riviera. Painters and sculptors worked in collaboration with the Catalan architect, Josep Lluís Sert, to create a place where art, nature and architecture blended in perfect harmony. Highlights include the Giacometti Courtyard, featuring an exceptional ensemble of sculptures by the Swiss artist, the Miró Labyrinth, a whimsical sculpture garden, monumental mural mosaics by Marc Chagall and Pierre Tal Coat, a pool designed by Braque as well as a mechanical fountain designed by Pol Bury.

Visitors can also enjoy the sculpture garden, which houses a rotating selection of works by Calder, Takis, Miró, Jean Arp and others, two rooftop terraces with spectacular views, galleries hosting temporary exhibitions and selected works from the permanent collection, a consecrated chapel, an art library and a gift and book shop.

Located 25 km from Nice, La Fondation Maeght welcomes many visitors every year to this unique architectural complex, showing modern and contemporary art in all its diversity.