Exhibition “Amitiés, Bonnard-Matisse” and concerts: the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul-de-Vence celebrates its sixtieth anniversary

If these two “monsters” of art, Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) and Henri Matisse (1869-1954), are being particularly honoured on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the Foundation via “Amitiés, Bonnard-Matisse”, which has benefited from loans from the Matisse, Bonnard and Maeght families as well as from national and international museums, it is first and foremost because of their special links with the Maeghts.

“Being the last to have known Bonnard and Matisse, my father Adrien, who is 94 years old and chairs the Foundation, wanted through this exhibition to pay tribute to these two geniuses of the 20th century who trusted my grandparents when they were only 30 and 32 years old, and who became their dealers and publishers”, recalled Isabelle Maeght, administrator, during the inauguration last Friday.

Matisse filmed by Adrien Maeght

True guardian figures for Aimé Maeght, who was also a lithographer, as Marie-Thérèse Pulvenis de Seligny, curator of the exhibition, points out, Matisse and Bonnard supported him in many endeavors. The synergy of their friendships culminated in the creation of the Maeght gallery in 1945.

Strong bonds are created even in trivial moments, as evidenced in the first room by the portraits, made on the spot by Bonnard, of Adrien Maeght when he was 12 years old, or of his mother Marguerite sitting on the bank of a river. A series of drawings like so many tender memories, never exhibited.

We also discover “Le Buisson” by Matisse, made in 1951 and which accompanied the Maeghts in difficult times. As well as the portraits of Marguerite by Matisse, filmed in full creation by Adrien in 1944. And in 1954, when the artist was making his paper cut-outs.

It was again Adrien who would publish a book entitled “Henri Matisse, the apparent facility – Paintings from 1935-1939” by Lydia Delectorskaya.

Succession of meetings on the Riviera

The subject of the meetings between Bonnard and Matisse in Issy-les-Moulineaux and then in Nice is then discussed. It was in 1926 that Bonnard, who often came to Grasse, Cannes and Antibes, bought the villa “Les Bosquets” in Le Cannet.

It was there that Marguerite Maeght came to see him in 1942, to offer to sell his paintings. And it was Bonnard who, during a visit to the Maeghts in Vence, suggested that they meet Matisse, who had been staying in Nice since 1917. Before settling in Vence in 1943.

But between Bonnard and Matisse, everything began in 1909, when the former visited the latter in his studio in Issy-les-Moulineaux and discovered “The Dance”, which the painter was creating for Shchukin.

Through the Bernheim Gallery, which exhibits both of them, each acquires a painting by the other: Matisse, Bonnard’s “La Soirée de salon” (1907), which still belongs to the Matisse family and is presented in this exhibition, and Bonnard, a painting by Matisse painted in Collioure, “La Fenêtre ouverte” (1911).

In this space we also discover Bonnard’s palette that Matisse kept. And that of Matisse.

Mutual fascination

Although each possessing their own keys to understanding the world, the two artists remained very curious about each other, as is evident in their correspondence, which began in 1926 and continued until 1947, the date of Bonnard’s death.

The didactic Matisse is fascinated by Bonnard’s genius for colour (taken to its climax in his last painting “The Almond Tree” presented in the exhibition) while the latter, who never speaks of his work, admires the former’s sense of composition and effects.

One room is devoted to the liveliness of Matisse’s line, his relationship to dance and his art of portraiture. Another highlights Bonnard’s relationship to landscape, the place of characters in nature.

Finally, in the last part, their peaceful daily life is traced, leaving them plenty of time to paint their everyday objects. We follow Matisse in his experience in Polynesia, erasing the boundaries between the sea and the sky to the point of making the shark and the seagull converse in an illustration of “Pierre à feu – Les Miroirs profonds”, from 1947, published by Maeght.

Beyond the meaning of each work, its hidden meaning, what matters above all here is the path of the artists and their relationship to the world, to their environment. To the light of the South. And to life, since Braque affirmed: “Art and life are one.”

“Amitiés Bonnard-Matisse”, until October 6. Fondation Maeght. 623, chemin des Gardettes in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from September to June and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. from July to August. Prices: 14 to 18 euros. Info. 04.93.32.81.63. www.fondation-maeght.com