Description of the attraction
The Museum of Contemporary and Contemporary Art in Nice is quite young - it was opened in 1990. However, plans to create such a museum were built back in the middle of the 20th century.
The first project to redesign an existing gallery was supported by Henri Matisse, but never materialized. Then it was supposed to attach a modern wing to the Historical Museum in the Massena Palace, but the project was abandoned, and a parking lot appeared in that place. Nevertheless, the idea was in the air - after the success of the French art movement "New Realism", it became clear that a museum of contemporary art was needed, and it was in Nice (here one of the founders of new realism, Yves Klein, was born).
The museum was created with the financial support of the state. Architects Yves Bayard and Henri Vidal have developed an unusual design for the building. It consists of four thirty-meter towers, whose smooth, shiny Carrara marble facades have no windows. The towers are connected by glass passages. Nine halls for exhibitions with a total area of 4 thousand square meters are located on three levels: the first one houses temporary exhibitions, the second and third - permanent collections.
The works stored here represent various streams of avant-garde art, from the 1960s to the present day. Of course, new realists are widely represented - Yves Klein (the museum has twenty of his works), Cesar, Christo, François Dufresne, Gerard Deschamps and many others. The works of the pillars of American pop art - Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana, as well as abstract artists - Kenneth Noland, Larry Poons, Frank Stella, Olivier Mosse, Martin Barr are on display. Minimalists include, for example, Saul Le Witt and Richard Serra. In addition, here you can see the works of German Fauves and Italian avant-garde artists, as well as examples of ironic and naive art, comics, graffiti.
Even if a tourist does not feel in himself a special love for contemporary art, he should still visit this free museum in order to climb to the very top. The rooftop terraces of the towers always attract visitors. There is a small adorable garden, but not only that: the terraces offer magnificent views of the mountains, the city and the sea.
