The artists’ Riviera: the back story

About The artists’ Riviera: the back story

By the ULTIMATE the French Riviera Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

For a century the Riviera has been a studio. Renoir moved to Les Collettes at Cagnes in 1907; Matisse lived and worked in Nice; Picasso worked in the Château Grimaldi at Antibes and painted War and Peace in a chapel at Vallauris; Chagall and Léger have national museums here; and Bonnard painted his garden at Le Cannet.

Nice

The Musée Matisse is on the Cimiez hill; its winter exhibition pairs Matisse with Alex Katz (28 October 2026–18 January 2027). The Musée national Marc Chagall is open every day except Tuesday. MAMAC, the modern art museum, has been closed since 7 January 2024 for renovation.

Antibes and Biot

The Musée Picasso fills the Château Grimaldi on the ramparts (closed Mondays). In Biot, the Musée national Fernand Léger shows the artist’s work behind a vast mosaic façade (closed Tuesdays). At Vallauris, Picasso’s War and Peace covers the vault of a chapel, now a national museum.

Most of the museums close one day a week, and not the same day: check before you set out.

The hills

At Saint-Paul-de-Vence, the Fondation Maeght calls itself France’s first independent art foundation. Renoir’s house at Les Collettes is a museum among his olive trees, and the Musée Bonnard at Le Cannet shows the painter of light and colour.

Our advice: plan one museum a day, with lunch in a hill village between them.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with The artists’ Riviera: the back story before you go.