{"id":1087,"date":"2018-02-01T15:44:37","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T15:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westnorfolkartists.org\/blog\/?p=1087"},"modified":"2025-02-15T23:55:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T23:55:55","slug":"maeght-foundation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westnorfolkartists.org\/blog\/2018\/02\/maeght-foundation\/","title":{"rendered":"Maeght Foundation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>My daughter has lived in the South of France for more than 20 years now, and when I go to visit her, she always tries to arrange a special day out for me.<\/p>\n

So, on a fine February morning, we set off from her village of Bar sur Loup, in the mountains above Nice, towards the village of St. Paul de Vence. This is a fortified medieval village surrounded by a high wall, and its little streets probably contain more artists per metre than anywhere I have been.<\/p>\n

Overlooking the village, set high on a hill, is the amazing Maeght Foundation.<\/p>\n

As we climbed the hill, the building and gardens came into view, and gave us quite a shock, mainly because of the very unusual architecture.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Architect of the building, opened in 1964, is Josep Lluis Sert. He was a Catalonian architect, and great friend of Miro, and also designed his studio. Aimee and Marguerite Maeght asked him to create a building and gardens to exhibit their modern \u201cliving\u201d art. They counted among their personal friends artists like Marc Chagall, Alberto Giacometti, Georges Braque, Alexander Calder, Fernand Leger and Eduardo Chillida. Apparently, many of these artists collaborated with Sert and the Maeghts so that they could intigrate their works of art \u201cin situ\u201d in the building and gardens. This is what struck us as we entered the gardens, that all the art work seems to be so comfortably placed in just the right position. The Indoors and Outdoors seemed to blend seamlessly together as we made our way around.<\/p>\n

Miro\u2019s Labyrinth, Chagall\u2019s mosaics, Braque\u2019s pool and his stained glass windows, and my favourite, Giacometti\u2019s courtyard. Being able to interact with his work, no \u201cdon\u2019t touch\u201d signs, no crowds or queues, just peace and quiet, beautiful Mediterranean light and a feeling of amazement to be a part of the whole experience that the Maeght\u2019s had planned.<\/p>\n\n\t\t