Bonnard-Matisse,
a friendship

France’s first foundation for modern and contemporary art, the Maeght Foundation will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary in the summer of 2024. Created in 1964 by art dealers, publishers and lithographers Marguerite and Aimé Maeght, it was inaugurated in Saint-Paul-de-Vence by André Malraux and immediately recognised as a public utility. This anniversary will be marked by a major summer exhibition, “Bonnard-Matisse, a friendship”, the inauguration of new exhibition rooms devoted this year to the permanent collection, and a month of celebrations featuring concerts, dance performances, film screenings, readings, etc.

Over 60 years and more than 150 exhibitions of works by the great artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, the Maeght Foundation has left its mark on the history and dissemination of art through its own distinctive approach. The prism of friendship that unites the Maeght family, the Fondation and the artists, allows us to tell the story of art far from the traditional bookish approach: art and life are constantly linked, from exhibitions to Nuits de la Fondation (dance, theatre, music…), picnics, big meals and boat trips… But wasn’t it the artists themselves who pushed the Maeght couple to overcome the pain of losing their second son by taking a long trip to the United States in the 1950s? Then by creating the Foundation inspired by the great American references they were visiting at the time? Barnes, Guggenheim, Phillips…

To celebrate this anniversary, the Maeght Foundation is presenting a special exhibition entitled “Bonnard-Matisse, a friendship”. From 29 June to 6 October, the exhibition focuses on the friendly and respectful relationship between Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse, and traces their links with the Maeght family, for whom the two artist-friends embodied two geniuses of the 20th century, sharing with them the great – and more trivial – moments of life.

The exhibition is organised around a number of themes, and features a wealth of rare works and documents on loan for the occasion. The exhibition explores the specific characters of the two masters, but also, by mirror effect, the particularities of each in their approach to the same subjects: self-portraits, the street, the light of the Midi, the painter and his model…

The Foundation, whose history reminds us that all artistic disciplines intersect, is finally planning a month of celebrations to mark its sixtieth anniversary, from the end of June until 28 July, the anniversary of its inauguration in 1964, which was marked by a memorable concert featuring Ella Fitzgerald and Yves Montand. In 2024, the Maeght Foundation will once again be staging dance, concerts, readings, documentary films on Bonnard and Matisse, lectures, children’s workshops and more.

Guest curator: Marie-Thérèse Pulvenis de Seligny 
Exhibition from the 29th of June to the 6th of October 2024