Jean Cocteau Museum

Museums

Located at the foot of the old town of Menton, facing the market and the seaside, the Jean Cocteau Séverin Wunderman collection opened in November 2011.

It presents on 2,700 m² the work of the poet in all its facets, from the years 1910 to the 1950s and offers visitors exhibition spaces collections and temporary exhibitions, a pedagogical workshop, a graphic art cabinet, a space of documentary resources, a café, a bookstore shop.

The visit to the museum continues at the Bastion, designed by Jean Cocteau between 1958 and 1963. The famous drawings of the Innamorati, the studies for the decorations of the wedding hall, as well as the pottery made in the building are presented. Madeline-Jolly workshop.

The museum thus becomes the first and most important public resource worldwide for Jean Cocteau’s work.

In September 2005, the Ministry of Culture and Communication approved the inclusion of the Séverin Wunderman collection in the inventory of the Jean Cocteau Museum, winner of the “Musée de France” label since 2003.

A donation of 1,800 works
The donation of Séverin Wunderman has 1,800 works including 990 works by Jean Cocteau.

It offers a very complete vision of the work of Jean Cocteau: all periods are represented, from the first self-portraits of the 1910s to the “Mediterranean” period of the end of his life, little known to the general public.

The museum presents paintings, drawings, ceramics, tapestries, jewelery, photographs, sound documents, film extracts, but also 450 works by great masters of modern art from Jean Cocteau’s entourage: Picasso, Modigliani, De Chirico, Miro, Foujita … and an exceptional collection of 360 works related to Sarah Bernhardt who was Jean Cocteau’s first “sacred monster”.

In addition to the masterpieces representative of the many facets of Jean Cocteau’s genius, the collection also reveals the man through many portraits and testimonies of his artist friends.

A museography over the life of Jean Cocteau.

Each year, a renewed exhibition of 150 to 200 works will reveal Cocteau’s plural genius and the density of his work.

The architecture
Facing the shoreline of the City of Menton, the building designed by Rudy Ricciotti welcomes, on 2 700 sqm, all works from the donation Séverin Wunderman.

Inspired by the many facets of Jean Cocteau’s genius who called his work “an object difficult to pick up”, the architecture of the museum is multiple, fragmented, sometimes elusive in the image of the exterior facade of the building.

In addition to the permanent collections, the museum includes spaces that host temporary exhibitions dedicated to contemporary drawing, a boutique bookstore and a café.

Contact and Access:

Musée Jean Cocteau collection Séverin Wunderman

2, quai de Monléon – 06500 MENTON