Fondation Maeght
If you do one major modern-art stop on the Riviera, start here. Yes, pichoun, even if it means leaving the sunbed.
A real place, not a museum dropped into a pretty village to fill an afternoon. Sert, Miró, Giacometti, Braque, Chagall, the gardens and the light all work together. That is exactly why we send you here.
Why we go
Fondation Maeght was designed with artists rather than simply filled afterwards. Josep Lluís Sert’s architecture connects with the Giacometti courtyard, Miró labyrinth, mosaics and gardens. You move inside and outside without feeling that you are ticking rooms off a plan.
What to actually look at
Do not try to photograph everything. Look at the Miró labyrinth, Giacometti courtyard, the integrations by Braque and Chagall, then give the outdoor spaces some time. People who take twenty pictures before looking at one work, we know the type.
Open daily. July and August: 10am to 7pm. Full-price ticket listed at €18. Parking on site. Checked August 2026.
Saint-Paul-de-Vence can be packed in summer. The Fondation is still worth going up there for. Those are two different things.
Alongside it, Peter Knapp: The Era of Courrèges, running to 8 November 2026, brings together photography, fashion and modernity through the photographer who documented the Courrèges years. Two very different exhibitions, and another reason not to treat the Fondation as an architecture-only stop.
Ellsworth Kelly — At the Water’s Edge runs from 27 June to 15 November 2026, exploring the role of water in Kelly’s work — rather appropriately placed on a coast that has made quite a career out of the subject.