Immersion into Colour at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco
Until August 31, 2025
The Grimaldi Forum is inviting us to experience this summer in colour. A major chromatic exhibition is bringing together some hundred masterpieces of modern and contemporary art, with its vast spaces and smart scenography making the visit even more enjoyable. Drawn from the Centre Pompidou collection, which is closing its doors for a complete renovation, these works of art witness the importance of colour both yesterday and today. This truly sensory and visual journey is inviting us to reinterpret the perception of colour in modern art. According to the poet Baudelaire’s emotional statement “Perfumes, colours and sounds echo each other”. This exhibition is thus exploring the synesthesia that occurs as we indulge in contemplation.
Alternately dedicated to blue, red, pink, yellow, white, black and green, the seven monochromatic spaces are enhanced by sound creations by Roque Rivas and olfactory atmosphere by the Fragonard “nose”, Alexis Dadier. These unique installations are inviting us to experience colour not only visually, but also through hearing and smell.
Among the artists on display: Matisse, Miró, Picasso, Derain, Kandinsky, Magritte, Goncharova, Modigliani, Soutine, Chagall, Klee, Dalí, Basquiat, Dubuffet, Klein, de Chirico, Bacon, Guston, Baselitz, Kupka, Kelly, Richter, Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Ron Arad, Jean Prouvé, Ettore Sottsass, Philippe Starck… A selection of leading modern artists in an exceptional setting indeed.
At the end of the visit Espace Beaubourg is paying homage to the Georges Pompidou Centre, inviting us to enjoy the genesis of colours of the pipes adorning the iconic facades by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers.
Renzo Piano is also a key name for the new eco-district Mareterra entirely reclaimed from the sea and adding some 6,000 m² of additional modular spaces to the Grimaldi Forum.
Couleurs! Chefs-d’œuvre du Centre Pompidou
Grimaldi Forum
10, Avenue Princesse Grace, Monaco
The 50th anniversary of the Catherine Issert Gallery in Saint-Paul de Vence
Until September 20, 2025
Passionate, watching over her artists, keen to embrace new creative impulses, Catherine Issert has been a leading French Riviera gallery for the past 50 years. Many visual artists have passed through this Saint-Paul de Vence art centre, just a few steps away from the legendary “Colombe d’Or”. Over the years, this legendary restaurant has seen a number of celebrities pass through its doors, with its walls bearing a significant collection of modern art. Catherine Issert is therefore at the heart of the art scene, open to nature and sensitive to the avant-garde. This summer to celebrate its 50th anniversary it is welcoming some twenty artists.
This vast selection is reflecting the eclectic spirit of this talent scout who has always steered clear of trends and fashions. A former member of the École du Louvre, Catherine Issert has always had the concept of heritage in mind. “The value of an artist is always associated, to a greater or lesser extent, with art history,” she says. Drawing on her in-depth knowledge of this subject, going back to the dawn of time, the gallery owner has consistently made both the most shrewd and diverse choices.
Among the artists invited to celebrate its 50th anniversary are Jean-Michel Alberola, John M. Armeleder, Jean Charles Blais, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Denis Castelas, Minjung Kim, François Morellet, Bernard Pagès, Pascal Pinaud, Adrian Schiess, Xavier Theunis, Gérard Traquandi, and Claude Viallat. This wide range reflects the gallery’s past exhibitions.
Having supported numerous artistic movements over the past fifty years, Catherine Issert is determined to continue her work. This magnificent exhibition is yet another witness to that.
Catherine Issert: 50th Anniversary of the Gallery
2, Route des Serres, Saint-Paul de Vence
Bao Vuong: The Sea halfway between Abyss and Hope
at the Asian Arts Museum in Nice
Until October 19, 2025
Honouring the men it has either consumed or safely carried to the shores of hope, the sea has forgotten its azure here. Dressed in black with its changing, alternately gray, alternately gold reflections, it is smoothing its surface in anticipation of a long journey.
The sea is thus opening a new perspective, telling us its stories here. That of Bao Vuong, for example, facing mysterious and frightening waves in the arms of his loving family at the tender age of 12-months.
In his work, the artist is resurfacing his entire past through a memory quest he had undertaken upon his return to Vietnam. He certainly can’t remember that crossing aboard a makeshift boat. But revealing scars that have healed to varying degrees on the smooth texture of his mind, he is rediscovering the connections having forged his identity.
“This artist is not just painting seascapes, but landscapes of soul with the waves symbolizing inner struggles and the stars being our guiding aspirations,” is writing Simone Dibo-Cohen, the curator of the Asian Arts Museum exhibition as the “Biennale of Arts and the Ocean” is unfolding in Nice.
Bao Vuong is gently taking us “behind the waves,” inviting us to an active contemplation captivating to all audiences alike. Nothing is static here. We truly get an impression of the waves moving, rippling under the moon, searching for the light. We feel part of the scene, even if it’s just overlapping layers of oil on canvas, scattered pigments creating an optical illusion.
This summer the sea is also being celebrated in the Principality. A painting by Bao Vuong is being exhibited in Monaco from July 4 to September 7, 2025, as part of “Demain l’Océan?”, a question at the heart of our modernity that artists wholeheartedly embrace. Bao Vuong certainly does.
Bao Vuong. Behind the Waves
Asian Arts Museum
405, Promenade des Anglais, Nice
Othoniel’s Pearls of Light at the Malmaison in Cannes
Until January 4, 2026
This luminous exhibition is celebrating the opening of La Malmaison in Cannes. After a complete renovation, this French Riviera Art Center is now directly associated with the Croisette and… contemporary art. Enjoying its vast and functional spaces, Malmaison is ready to host internationally scaled events.
Today it is Jean-Michel Othoniel who is taking over its sun-bathed spaces. A major name on the international art arena with his exhibitions in New York, Tokyo and Seoul, Othoniel was the one to design the famous “Night Owl Kiosk” in 2000 at the Parisian metro entrance facing the Louvre and the Comédie Française. In its own way, this sculpture of many lights is celebrating the union of all arts. More recently, Othoniel’s gilded glass fountains have given a spectacular revival to the gardens of Versailles.
This summer, the artist is revisiting the emblematic sites and museums of Avignon, with his exceptional exhibition spreading across a dozen legendary locations.
In Cannes, Jean-Michel Othoniel has created a marvellous universe merging the colours of the Film Festival and the Mediterranean with some hundred works, most of them specifically designed for La Malmaison. The oldest residence on the Croisette, with its three monumental outside sculptures, is now making all heads turn.
Multiplying the reflections, Jean-Michel Othoniel’s infinite game of light is truly enchanting. Its magic is suddenly taking over the reality of things, erasing the boundaries between the real and illusionary. This “stardust” is tickling our imagination, opening the doors to dreams, just a few steps away from the temple of cinema.
Jean-Michel Othoniel. The Stardust
La Malmaison
47, Boulevard de la Croisette, Cannes
