Matisse Museum

The Matisse Museum is situated on the hill of Cimiez, not far from the Franciscan monastery with its Italianate gardens, the Hotel Regina where Matisse used to reside, and the Gallo-Roman ruins. Since the 5th of January 1963 the Museum has been welcoming vistors to its collection of works left by the artist (and his heirs) to the city of Nice where he lived from 1918 until 1954.

The museum’s collections reflect Matisse’s artistic career, from his first painting “Still Life with Books” (1890) to one of his latest creations “Flowers and Fruit” (1952 -1953).

They present his advances and his research in the field of color and graphics. The collections include, in particular, almost all of the sculpted work of the artist as well as a large collection of graphic works presented in the cabinet of drawings. Illustrated books, photographs and objects that belonged to the painter complete silkscreen prints, tapestries, ceramics, stained glass and documents. In addition, thanks to a donation made in 2013 by the Matisse heirs, the City’s collections were enriched by the monumental work “La Piscine”, made of lava stone and ceramics and for which a room is dedicated to him in the modern part of the museum.

On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the museum, the city of Nice wished to pay homage to the figure and the work of Matisse, by proposing for the first time 8 simultaneous exhibitions as part of the event. A summer for Matisse “.

Located in the bucolic setting of the gardens of the Cimiez hill, the painter’s walkway where century-old olive trees and Roman ruins mingle, the museum, housed in a 17th century Genoese residence and inaugurated in 1963, has benefited since 1992 from an extension to contemporary forms.

The museum’s emblematic works are “Still Life with Books” (1890: Matisse’s first painting), “Portrait of Mrs. Matisse” (1905: fawn painting), “Still Life with Pomegranates” (1947: painting of the Venetian period), “Blue Nude IV” (1952: masterpiece cut gouache paper) and “Flowers and Fruit” (1952-53: last monumental composition cut gouache paper).

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