Musée Matisse (Nice)
Encyclopedia
The Musée Matisse in Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...

 is a national museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 devoted to the work of French painter Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...

. It gathers one of the world's largest collections of his works, which shows his artistic beginnings and his evolution until his last work. Located in the Villa des Arènes, a seventeenth-century villa in the neighborhood of Cimiez
Cimiez
Cimiez is a neighborhood in Nice, southern France. The area contains the Musée Matisse and the ruins of Cemenelum, capital of the Ancient Roman province Alpes Maritimae on the Ligurian coast...

, the museum opened in 1963.

Description

The Villa des Arènes, whose construction began in 1670, was completed in 1685 and was then named Gubernatis palace after its sponsor and owner, Jean-Baptiste Gubernatis, then consul in Nice. The villa took its current name in 1950, when the City of Nice bought it to a real estate company.

The museum was created in 1963 and occupied on the first floor of the villa, the ground floor being then occupied by the Museum of archaeology. In 1989, the archaeological museum was moved to the nearby ancient site of the city and the Musée Matisse was extended: it was renoved, which led it to stay closed for four years. The museum reopened in 1993 with a new modern aisle as well as a renovated space, which allowed it to exhibit its whole permanent collection which has increased since 1963 through several successive deposits and donations.

The museum's permanent collection was formed through a variety of donations: firstly, those of Matisse, who lived and worked in Nice from 1917 to 1954, those of his heirs as well as deposits of works made ​​by the State. The museum counts 68 painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

s and gouache
Gouache
Gouache[p], also spelled guache, the name of which derives from the Italian guazzo, water paint, splash or bodycolor is a type of paint consisting of pigment suspended in water. A binding agent, usually gum arabic, is also present, just as in watercolor...

s, 236 drawings, 218 prints, 95 photos, 57 sculptures and 14 books illustrated by Matisse, 187 objects that belonged to the painter, and prints, tapestries, ceramics, stained glass and other documents.
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