The Maeght Foundation is hosting a new exhibition of selected works from its own collection. Curated by art critic Henri-François Debailleux, the event will run from 1 December 2018 to 16 June 2019. The Foundation has amassed a wealth of exquisite works over the years, first and foremost thanks to donations by Marguerite and Aimé Maeght and subsequently to gifts from artists, friends, family members, collectors and supporters of the Foundation. It is this very mind-set of generosity and caring that will be spot-lit, until the spring, at the Maeght Foundation, in an exhibition that casts into fresh relief both the diversity and the depth of one of Europe's biggest collections of paintings, sculptures, graphic designs, and modern and contemporary drawings.
"Collecting art is a frame of mind, a lifestyle. Each collection offers a reflection of the person or people behind it, like a mirror. In theory, no two collections are alike. A museum's collection, for example, is intended to bear witness to an aspect of art history – or even to anticipate that history. It will necessarily be quite different to a private collection, which is less extensive, less logical, without doubt more instinctive, more linked to the tastes and passions of its owner(s). A foundation's collection is different again. As the fruit of an approach that is both private and public, it bears the stamp of the individuals who created it whilst, over time, becoming enriched with new acquisitions and myriad donations. This is obviously the case of the Maeght Foundation. The oldest foundation in France was inaugurated in 1964 by its founders, Marguerite and Aimé Maeght, and their family of artists (Braque, Miró, Giacometti, etc.) The collection has constantly grown since then, to the point of now totalling over ten thousand references, including several hundred donations over the past ten or so years. Most come from a close circle of friends, family, former directors, collectors, and the Société des Amis de la Fondation, who all generously share their passion with the Foundation's many visitors. Because the works hail from very different sources they constitute, by nature, a very heterogeneous ensemble; yet trends, links and interactions can be identified. Variety is the driving force of the collection; diversity the beat of its heart."
Henri-François Debailleux, Curator