Download the file of the 2023-2024 cultural season
Editorial by the Director of the National 20th Century Museums of the Alpes-Maritimes
he year 2023 continues in France's national museums, with two fine exhibitions on view until the beginning of 2024: Pierrick Sorin, Le Balai mécanique, a humorous commission for the musée national Fernand Léger, and Chagall et moi ! an exhibition celebrating 50 years of the Musée national Marc Chagall, including a unique olfactory experience.
After the festive three-day weekend organised in July - concerts, circus, animated cinema and a participatory floral sculpture by Bella Meyer, Marc Chagall's granddaughter - a final exceptional event will take place in 2023: a reading of texts by David McNeil, Marc Chagall's son, by Eve Pereur, a young actress from the Théâtre national de Nice, in the presence of the author.
In spring 2024, new insights into the collections will be offered: the discovery of four exceptional acquisitions made in 2023 for the Musée national Marc Chagall and the Léger Défilé ! project, which will showcase in Biot textile creations inspired by the work of Fernand Léger, created by talented students from the Lycée des Coteaux in Cannes.
The 2023-2024 season will also be marked by major exhibitions and new partnerships. At the musée national Marc Chagall, the exhibition Chagall Politique. Le Cri de liberté, co-organised with the André Diligent-La Piscine museum in Roubaix and the Fundación Mapfre in Madrid, will shed new light on a humanist artist deeply rooted in his time. At the Fernand Léger national museum, a partnership with Mamac and the City of Nice will offer a dialogue between the collections, entitled Léger et les Nouveaux Réalismes.
At the musée national Pablo Picasso, War and Peace in Vallauris, contemporary art based on political commitment will continue to take centre stage, with an exhibition by artist Awena Cozannet entitled Chaque jour est éternel. In 2024, the Picasso chapel will be given pride of place with two new innovative features: a virtual tour on our website, enabling visitors to explore the site from a distance, and the installation of a digital mediation system on site, providing a deeper understanding of Picasso's pacifist masterpiece, War and Peace.
As every year, the public is also invited to experience the museums in a different way, through exceptional events and creative sharing. Our various series of events (circus, music, dance performance, art history and aesthetics) include prestigious speakers such as Michel Pastoureau, the great historian of colours, and the eminent philosopher and philologist Barbara Cassin. Our support for research and the dissemination of philosophy will play an even greater role in our programme this year, with our participation in the first edition of the ProPhilia festival, organised by Université Côte d'Azur.
Many thanks to our partners who have helped us create this prestigious programme, and we wish you all a wonderful season !
Anne DOPFFER
General Curator of Heritage
Director of the National Museums of the 20th Century in Alpes-Maritimes
Caption: Acrobate, promotion 2021-2022 de Piste d’Azur, centre régional des Arts du cirque, devant l’œuvre de Fernand Léger, Les Constructeurs (version définitive), 1950, huile sur toile, 300 x 228 cm. Biot, musée national Fernand Léger, donation de Nadia Léger et Georges Bauquier (1969). Photo : © akphoto.fr © Adagp, Paris, 2024.
