Côte d’Azur (3) Nice Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

The trouble with Museums of Modern and Contemporary Art is that there is normally too much to see and the themes are so varied that the spectator is blown away by the experience and exhausted. The additional problem with post modern art is that it also asks a lot of the spectator to understand, so you have to view the image and read hundreds of explanatory words. The exhibits are also normally housed in a building of exceptional architectural interest. Nice is no exception

So we were beaten by the museum as there is so much to see in Nice. Maybe a couple of hours with Chargall just beforehand was too much! The building, designed by Yvres Bacardi and Henri Vidal is stunning and based on classical ideas of the square and the arch with a very modern accent. The 4000 square feet of exhibition space is on three floors with terraces on the roof to view the arches and the City of Nice.

The Musée d’art moderne et d’art contemporain, MAMAC, Nice, 1990.

Regarding the art there was just too much to take in from the twelve rooms. Every single piece is worthy of note for the technical expertise of its construction, whether it be sculture, photography or film (not much painting) but as already noted, difficult to understand. For instance, Ernest Pignon-Ernest (b1942), the Nice born Fluxus and Situationalist artist, very politically charged anti nuclear, and anti apartheid.

“Jean Genet”, 2006, Ernest Pignon-Ernest, MAMAC, Nice.

Definitely not to be missed, maybe because of its familiarity, is the Yvres Klein level with the rich untramarine (Klein Blue) works in sculpture and paint. The fact that he arranged for paint covered nude girls to roll about the canvas is interesting, but of far less importance with Klein’s other experimentation with sculpture in the room. Until you see Klein Blue in the flesh, so to speak, you do not realise it’s evocative power.

Part of The Yvres Klein permanent exhibition at MAMAC, Nice.

… so by the time we had visited Marc Chargall and MAMAC it was time to skip the visual arts and head for the Old Town (Vieux Nice) and the culinary arts.