Art Museum In Nice France

Their are many interesting art museums to visit while in Nice, France when you need a break from the hot sun. Below you will find our favorite picks and some other interesting tid bits about Nice.

Nice is a city in southeast France just northeast of Cannes. Being on the shorts of the Mediterranean Sea, Nice enjoys the typical Mediterranean climate of mild temperatures most of the year and only very moderate rainfalls.

With clear evidence of an established settlement in Nice and its immediate vicinity approximately 2,000 years ago, this city is considered one of the oldest in the world. Terra Amata, an archeological site dating back to the Lower Palaeolithic age in the area also shows one of the earliest uses of fire and construction of houses.

Since the second century AD, the climate-friendly and sunlit city of Nice has attracted many famous painters such as Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Niki de Saint Phalle, Ben Nicholson and Armand Pierre Fernandez. Nice also inspired many other foreign artists and intellectuals such as Louis Hector Berlioz, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, and Gioachino Rossini.

With so many world-renown and globally celebrated artists flocking to Nice, it is not surprising to find so many museums of various kinds within its city limits.

- Musée Chagall: Marc Chagall, born in Russia in 1887 and died in Nice in 1985, is famous for his work inspired by Jewish folklore and his interpretations of the Bible are displayed here on massive canvasses. A small bookshop at the entrance of the museum stocks a number of publications on Marc Chagall and his work, and sells prints as well. Admission is free for children and the first Sunday of the month.

- Musée Matisse: This museum is housed in a picturesque red building and stands on Cimiez Hill, near the city’s Arènes (ancient Roman amphitheater) and Musee Archeologique. Matisse lived in Cimiez from 1917 until he died in 1954. The museum exhibits a collection of his paintings, drawings and some of the earliest works, along with his lesser-known sculptors and black and white photographs revealing his private life.

- Musée des Beaux-Arts Jules Chéret: This museum is housed in a breathtakingly beautiful private mansion built in 1878 and displays a vast collection of more than 6,000 works of art dating from the 17th century to the 1940s. The museum lays claim to the works of French artists such as Carpeaux and Rodin as well as noteworthy restorations of Flemish school paintings. Two sections of this museum are exclusively devoted to modern art featuring Kees, Van Dongen, Raoul Dufy, and Picasso. The symbolist work by an esteemed local Nice artist, Gustav Adolf Mossa who was the museum’s curator for many years, are also proudly displayed. Admission to the museum is free for ages 18 and under and on the first Sunday of every month.

- Museum of Naïve Arts (Museum of Primitive Art): This museum originated as a bequest by the Romanian art critic, Anatole Jakovsky. It provides a superb overview of primitive art throughout the world dating from 18th century to the present day and is adjoined to a research and information center on primitive art.

- Musée Terra-Amata: This relatively small museum is housed in a modern building not far from the Nice seaport and it stands on the exact spot where the 400,000 year old prehistoric site of Terra Amata was discovered. The exposition depicting ancient fauna, flora, climate and tools is educational but easy to understand and is provided in French, English, Italian and German. Small models recreating the evolution of prehistoric man’s environment are also on display.

Other museums in Nice such as the Museum of Asian Art, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Museum of Natural History, Museum of Massena, Naval Museum and Galerie des Ponchettes are worth your time and I would highly recommend them.

Posted in France Vacation Guide