Permanent Collection
A visionary place
La Fondation Maeght welcomes visitors to a unique and timeless place in which art, architecture and nature exist in harmony together. Working in collaboration with Catalan architect Josep Lluís Sert, world-leading painters and sculptors created works for La Fondation that are integrated into his building, and into its natural surroundings. The complex ranges across internal and exterior spaces, from a sculpture garden, courtyards, terraces and patios, to exhibition rooms, a chapel, a library and a bookshop. La Fondation owns one of the largest collection in Europe of paintings, sculptures, drawings and graphic arts of the 20th century (Bonnard, Braque, Calder, Chagall, Giacometti, Hepworth, Kandinsky, Léger, Miró, Richier, Tal Coat, Ubac …) but also, contemporary artists such as Adami, Bergmann, Calzolari, Chillida, Christo, Del Re, Garouste, Hartung, Immendorff, Kelly, Lam, Mitchell, Monory, Takis, Tàpies.
Sculpture garden
The beautifully landscaped sculpture garden was conceived to house modern and contemporary art in all its forms. On entering, visitors encounter ceramics by Fernand Léger, a playful fountain by Pol Bury, a monumental Alexander Calder stabile and a wind sculpture by Takis. Works by Jean Arp, Eduardo Chillida, Erik Dietman, Barbara Hepworth and Joan Miró are also presented in seasonal rotation.
Other works are directly integrated into the buildings, including a monumental mosaic on the outer wall created by Pierre Tal-Coat, and Marc Chagall’s mosaic Les Amoureux (The Lovers) installed on the wall of the bookshop and the pool Les Poissons (The Fish) by Georges Braque
The Giacometti Courtyard
The courtyard features an exceptional group of plaster sculptures by Alberto Giacometti – Homme qui marche I and II (Walking Man I and II), Femme debout I and II (Standing Woman I and II) and Grande tête (Large Head), made between 1959 and 1960. The works were commissioned for the Chase Manhattan Bank plaza in New York, but when that project was abandoned, the sculptures came to the Fondation Maeght.
The Miró Labyrinth
This magical site-specific work was devised by Catalan artist Joan Miró with the help of his ceramicist friends, father and son Josep Llorens Artigas and Joan Gardy Artigas. Incorporating ceramic, Carrara marble, iron, bronze and concrete, the monumental piece brings sculpture, architecture and nature together. The Labyrinth is explored by following a white line painted on the walls, representing Ariadne’s thread from Greek legend, before visitors come face-to-face with fantastical animals from Miró’s personal mythology.
The St Bernard chapel, 1964
The chapel dedicated to St Bernard is a consecrated building, and contains a carved Spanish crucifix from the 12th century, offered by Cristobal Balenciaga, a slate relief Stations of the Cross by Raoul Ubac and a magnificent stained-glass window by Georges Braque, Oiseau Blanc (White Bird). Ubac also designed a stained-glass window, La Croix et le Rosaire (The Cross and the Rosary).
