Fondation Maeght: The Complete Guide to Visiting This Modern Art Landmark

Perched on the Gardettes hillside above Saint-Paul-de-Vence, the Fondation Maeght looks like no other museum on the French Riviera. A ceramic labyrinth designed by Miró opens onto the pine grove, Giacometti's sculptures occupy a courtyard laid out for them, and the building itself was conceived alongside the artists who would inhabit it. France's first private modern art foundation is now past its sixtieth birthday, with new galleries buried beneath its courtyards. Here is everything you need to know before you go: the works not to miss, the 2026 exhibitions, opening hours, ticket prices and how to get there from Monaco.

Forty kilometres from Port Hercule, this artistic detour pairs easily with a day in the hills behind Nice. Our guests often describe it as one of the finest escapes of their stay.

The story of the Fondation Maeght: from family grief to an artists' project

There is a personal story behind this place. Knowing how it came about changes the way you walk through it.

Aimé and Marguerite Maeght, art dealers and publishers

Aimé Maeght (1906-1981) began his working life as a lithographic draughtsman. In 1926 he joined the Robaudy printing works in Cannes. Two years later he married Marguerite Devaye.

Encouraged by Pierre Bonnard, the couple opened the Galerie Arte in Cannes in 1937. In late 1945 they moved to Paris and launched the Galerie Maeght on rue de Téhéran with a Matisse exhibition. The journal Derrière le miroir followed, then a lithography studio founded in 1959, and one of the largest private libraries in France.

Dealers, publishers, printers: the Maeghts did more than sell works. They supported artists over the long term, published their books and printed their lithographs. That closeness is what made the Foundation possible.

Bernard's death and Georges Braque's promise

In 1953 the couple's young son Bernard died of leukaemia. Georges Braque then urged the Maeghts to imagine, on their Saint-Paul-de-Vence property, a place devoted entirely to modern art.

His words have stayed with the place: “Do something here, something with no speculative purpose, that would allow us artists to exhibit sculpture and painting in the best possible conditions of light and space. Do it, and I will help you.”

Fernand Léger added his own version: “Make a place for us artists... If you do, I will come with my paints and cover the rocks.” A trip to the United States, where the Maeghts discovered the Barnes, Phillips and Solomon R. Guggenheim collections, sealed their decision.

The inauguration of 28 July 1964 by André Malraux

Granted public interest status by ministerial decree on 15 May 1964, the Fondation Marguerite et Aimé Maeght was inaugurated on 28 July of the same year by André Malraux, then Minister of Cultural Affairs.

His speech set the tone: “This is not a museum. When we were looking a moment ago at the piece of garden where the Mirós stand, the same thing was happening as when we looked at the room where the Chagalls were.”

The couple donated 1,000 works, on top of everything created on site. Today the collection exceeds 13,000 pieces, including nearly 2,000 Mirós (the largest holding in France) and around 200 Giacomettis.

Architecture designed with the artists: Josep Lluís Sert

The Fondation Maeght owes its distinctive silhouette to the Catalan architect Josep Lluís Sert (1902-1983). It was Joan Miró, for whom Sert had built a studio in Palma de Mallorca, who introduced him to the Maeghts.

A Mediterranean village in architectural form

Sert rejected the museum-as-box. He designed a group of low volumes in brick, terracotta and concrete, arranged like a village, where visitors move constantly between inside and outside.

Daylight arrives indirectly, captured by half-vaulted roofs that act as light traps. The original 850 square metres of gallery space are modular, built to house a full retrospective or an intimate hang.

Those two large curved white forms visible from the forecourt are impluviums: they collect rainwater to feed the pools while providing shade. A remarkably ecological concern for a building of the 1960s.

Silvio d'Ascia's extension, opened in summer 2024

For its sixtieth anniversary, the Foundation grew without adding anything above ground. Architect Silvio d'Ascia excavated the new spaces beneath the Giacometti and Miró courtyards.

The official figures: 500 square metres of new build plus 80 square metres of converted space, making 580 square metres of new multidisciplinary galleries. The largest, under the Giacometti courtyard, measures 13.5 by 29 metres with no visible column. Wide glazed bays open onto the pine grove at the rear of the building.

The architect sums up his approach: “The extension project for the Fondation Maeght is an invisible project. Nothing had to be added, but rather subtracted, in order to preserve the purity and harmony of this unique ensemble.” Two lifts make these levels accessible to visitors with reduced mobility.

The galleries now show works that had been in storage: Braque, Léger, Miró, Ellsworth Kelly, Joan Mitchell, Riopelle, Hartung, Soulages and his Outrenoirs, Kandinsky, Dubuffet, Chillida, Nicolas de Staël, Hantaï.

What to see at the Fondation Maeght

What sets the place apart is this: many of its major works were created for it, in situ, by artists working hand in hand with the architect. They are on view permanently, whatever the temporary exhibition of the moment.

The Giacometti courtyard

This is the beating heart of the Foundation. Alberto Giacometti brought together an exceptional group of bronzes here: Grande tête de Diego, both versions of L'Homme qui marche, both Grande Femme debout, and every version of Femme de Venise.

The backstory is worth knowing. In January 1959 Giacometti accepted his first public commission: designing a plaza for the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York. He conceived three sculptures, completed them in 1960, then ultimately refused to present them to the committee. The bank abandoned the project. Aimé Maeght acquired one cast of each and invited the artist to take over the central courtyard in 1964. Giacometti chose the placement of every sculpture himself.

The Miró Labyrinth

On the terrace below, Joan Miró worked with ceramicists Josep Llorens Artigas and Joan Gardy Artigas on a group of some twenty works combining ceramic, Carrara marble, iron, bronze and concrete. The project ran from 1963 into the early 1970s.

Look out for:

• L'Arc (1963): 30 tonnes of concrete carved with a jackhammer
• Le Mur (1968): 468 ceramic tiles across 12 metres, prepared at Gallifa in the Artigas workshop
• Le Lézard (1963), whose surface still bears Miró's fingerprints
• La Déesse (1963), a fertility goddess whose belly is a ceramic tortoise shell
• L'Œuf de Mammouth (1963), reflected in one of the four pools
• La Fourche (1963), echoing the raised fist of the rebel peasant during the Spanish Civil War
• L'Oiseau lunaire and L'Oiseau solaire (1968), in Carrara marble

A white line painted along the low walls serves as an Ariadne's thread, guiding visitors to L'Arc.

The Saint-Bernard chapel

A consecrated building, the chapel bears the name of the patron saint of the couple's late son. It houses a twelfth-century Spanish Christ donated by couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga and a Stations of the Cross carved in slate by Raoul Ubac.

Ubac also created the stained glass window La Croix et le Rosaire. The second window, Oiseau Blanc, is by Georges Braque, who reprised the bird motif he had created for a ceiling at the Louvre.

Braque's pool, Chagall's mosaic and the sculpture garden

Georges Braque designed the pool Les Poissons (1963), a mosaic more than twelve metres long. On the bookshop wall, Marc Chagall created Les Amoureux, a mosaic three metres by nearly three, which the family says depicts Aimé and Marguerite welcoming visitors.

Beware of a common confusion: La Vie (1964), the other great Chagall here, is not a mosaic but an oil on canvas measuring almost three by four metres, shown indoors.

The rest of the grounds reads as an open-air sculpture garden: Pol Bury's stainless steel Fontaine (1978), Alexander Calder's monumental stabile Les Renforts (1964), Pierre Tal Coat's wall mosaic, Ossip Zadkine's Statue pour un jardin, Jean Arp's Le Pépin géant, Barbara Hepworth's Figure (Walnut), given by the artist in 1967, a wind sculpture by Takis, and Eduardo Chillida's Iru harri.

The painting galleries and the rare book room

Indoors the hang changes, but the collection holds fine encounters: Pierre Bonnard's L'été, Kandinsky's Nœud Rouge, Ellsworth Kelly's Red, Yellow, Blue, Matisse's Portrait de Fabiani, Juan Gris's Portrait de Pierre Reverdy, works by Soulages, Dubuffet and Germaine Richier.

The new rare book room deserves time. Books from Aimé Maeght's library, more than 35,000 volumes strong, can be browsed page by page on touchscreens: Miró's À toute épreuve, Picasso's Le Chant des Morts, Matisse's Pasiphaé.

Which exhibitions are on at the Fondation Maeght in 2026?

Each year the Foundation stages a major summer exhibition alongside smaller focused displays. In 2026, two run side by side.

Ellsworth Kelly, Aux bords de l'eau

From 27 June to 15 November 2026, under guest curator Éric de Chassey, the Foundation devotes its major exhibition to the American artist Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015). It explores, for the first time, the place of water in his work.

From Belle-Île to the French Riviera, from New York to the Caribbean, Kelly was drawn all his life to aquatic settings. Drawings, collages, paintings and sculptures translate less a landscape than the perception of water itself: chromatic variation, light, surface. “In my paintings I do not invent; my ideas come from a constant investigation into the appearance of things,” he said.

The choice is far from arbitrary. Back in France in 1948, Kelly exhibited at the Galerie Maeght in Paris and stayed several times at Saint-Paul-de-Vence, where he formed a lasting friendship with Adrien Maeght, today the Foundation's president.

Peter Knapp, Le Temps Courrèges

From 14 May to 8 November 2026, the Anny Courtade room hosts the first focused exhibition here to bring art and fashion together. Photographer Peter Knapp, a friend of André Courrèges and of the Maeght family, was given carte blanche.

In 1965 Courrèges unveiled a haute couture collection the press immediately dubbed the “Courrèges bombshell”: miniskirt, white, structured shapes. In issue 1002 of ELLE, in March of that year, Knapp staged this new silhouette in a series where the models appear to float, suspended in space.

Four large prints from that series form the core of the display, complemented by archive material and period outfits lent by the house of Courrèges. The project carries the French Ministry of Culture's “Bicentenary of Photography” label.

Opening hours, tickets and practical information

What are the Fondation Maeght opening hours?

The Foundation opens every day, with no weekly closing day. From September to June it welcomes visitors from 10am to 6pm. In July and August closing moves to 7pm.

Two exceptions to note for 2026: an exceptional closure on 5, 6 and 7 September, and early closing at 4pm on 24 and 31 December.

How much is admission?

Full price is 18 euros. The reduced rate of 14 euros applies to 16 to 18 year olds, students, press, tour guides and jobseekers, on presentation of proof at the entrance.

Admission is free for under-16s, visitors with disabilities and members of the Société des Amis. Tickets are sold on site and online, and booking is not compulsory.

How long should you allow for the visit?

Allow two hours for a comfortable visit: an hour for the indoor galleries and the temporary exhibition, an hour for the Giacometti courtyard, the Miró Labyrinth, the chapel and the sculpture garden. Modern art enthusiasts easily spend half a day.

The Miró Labyrinth is not accessible to visitors with reduced mobility, unlike the exhibition rooms and the other outdoor spaces, which are served by lifts.

The Sous les Pins restaurant and the bookshop

Since 2022 the chefs behind the Nice restaurant Les Agitateurs, awarded a Michelin star, have run the Foundation's café-restaurant. Sous les Pins offers a weekly menu built with regional producers, served in the shade of the Aleppo pines on furniture designed by Diego Giacometti. For the rest of the day, a lighter option lets visitors eat between galleries.

The bookshop is worth a look for its signed and numbered original lithographs, a direct legacy of Aimé Maeght's work as a publisher.

How to get to the Fondation Maeght from Monaco

Saint-Paul-de-Vence lies 40 kilometres from Monaco and 7 kilometres from the sea, set back from Cagnes-sur-Mer.

By car

From the Principality, take the A8 towards Marseille and leave at junction 48, “Cagnes-sur-Mer / Vence”. Then follow the RD 436 towards La Colle-sur-Loup and Vence: the village is about fifteen minutes from the motorway.

Allow roughly 45 minutes outside peak traffic, more at rush hour and in high summer. Parking at the Foundation is free. Our guests often prefer to leave the driving to someone else: our private transfer services make it easy to reach the hinterland without worrying about parking on the way back.

By train and bus

The nearest station is Cagnes-sur-Mer, roughly 40 minutes by train from Monaco-Monte-Carlo. From there, bus route 655 on the Zou! Proximité network links Cagnes-sur-Mer to Vence via Saint-Paul.

Two stops work: “Fondation Maeght”, followed by a fairly steep 10 to 12 minute walk uphill, or “St Paul Village”, 10 minutes away along the chemin de Sainte-Claire from the village entrance. If you are planning journeys around the region, our complete guide to getting to Monaco covers the Riviera rail links in detail.

Combining the Foundation with the village of Saint-Paul-de-Vence

Do not leave without walking the lanes of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, a few minutes downhill. The fortified village, its galleries and the cemetery where Marc Chagall is buried round out the morning perfectly.

Anyone drawn to these hilltop villages will find the same atmosphere ten minutes from Monaco in the village of Èze, or on the Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat peninsula.

Exploring modern art further from Monaco

The Fondation Maeght belongs to a wider artistic itinerary, one the Principality makes easy to cover.

In Monaco itself, the Grimaldi Forum stages a major modern or contemporary art exhibition every summer, while the Oceanographic Museum regularly hosts contemporary artist installations in its Belle Époque setting.

The Port Palace, a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, sits in an ideal position for these excursions: facing Port Hercule, five minutes on foot from Monaco station and around thirty minutes from Nice airport. All our rooms and suites overlook the harbour and the Rock.

Back from a day inland, La Môme restaurant on the hotel's sixth floor offers an open view over the yachts and the Prince's Palace. When you stay with us, your concierge can arrange the transfer to Saint-Paul-de-Vence and book your table at Sous les Pins.

Fondation Maeght FAQ

What is the Fondation Maeght?

The Fondation Marguerite et Aimé Maeght is the first private foundation devoted to modern and contemporary art created in France. Inaugurated on 28 July 1964 at Saint-Paul-de-Vence, it holds more than 13,000 works and displays pieces created on site by Miró, Giacometti, Braque, Chagall and Calder.

Who founded the Fondation Maeght?

It was created by Aimé Maeght (1906-1981) and his wife Marguerite, art dealers, publishers and printers. The project grew out of the death of their son Bernard in 1953, at the suggestion of Georges Braque. Their son Adrien Maeght is the Foundation's president today.

How much does it cost to visit the Fondation Maeght?

Full price is 18 euros and the reduced rate is 14 euros for 16 to 18 year olds, students, jobseekers, press and tour guides. Admission is free for under-16s, visitors with disabilities and members of the Société des Amis. Groups must book by email with the Foundation.

What are the Fondation Maeght opening hours?

It opens every day, from 10am to 6pm from September to June and from 10am to 7pm in July and August. In 2026 an exceptional closure falls on 5, 6 and 7 September, and the Foundation closes at 4pm on 24 and 31 December.

How long does a visit to the Fondation Maeght take?

Two hours cover the essentials: the exhibition rooms, the Giacometti courtyard, the Miró Labyrinth, the Saint-Bernard chapel and the sculpture garden. Visitors passionate about modern art often devote half a day to it.

How far is the Fondation Maeght from Monaco?

The Foundation is 40 kilometres from Monaco, roughly 45 minutes by car on the A8 outside peak traffic. By public transport, allow around 40 minutes by train to Cagnes-sur-Mer, then bus route 655 towards Saint-Paul.

A day on the artists' Riviera

Few places tell so clearly what the French Riviera meant to the painters and sculptors of the twentieth century. The Fondation Maeght is neither quite a museum nor simply a sculpture garden: it is a setting built by the artists themselves, where Mediterranean light is part of the hang.

Whether you come for Giacometti's bronzes, Miró's ceramics or the exhibition of the season, plan to linger afterwards: the village of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, a short walk away, extends the outing naturally. And when evening comes, Port Hercule is waiting.

Information verified with the Fondation Maeght and the Saint-Paul-de-Vence tourist office. Hours and prices may change: check before you travel.