The art and architecture of Josep Lluís Sert - 5 April – 9 June 2014, Fondation Maeght

© kristianstad.

Vía Maeght Foundation.

In 2014, the Maeght Foundation invites all art lovers to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. The major spring exhibition will be devoted to the architecture of Josep Lluís Sert, influenced by a lifetime of dialogue with the greatest artists of his time.

"We chose to pay tribute to this innovative architect who was a great creator and to his perceptive ideas notably by introducing his work for art or the artists, beginning, of course, by the Fondation Maeght," says Olivier Kaeppelin, its director.

"In doing so, we will vividly recall the story of this extraordinary project. With the help of plans, models, films and archival footage, visitors will have a better understanding of the size of the process, its boldness and generosity. Its creation mobilized some of the greatest artists and writers of the 1960s. It is surprising today how each visitor makes this fascinating story his own. My conviction, shared with Adrien Maeght who experienced its construction, is that Sert’s architecture has much to do with it: bright, open, timeless. It is a haven of peace and life for the artists and their works. Here, between heaven and nature, art lovers find something unique. In this exhibition, we seek to reveal the secrets of this very unique alchemy, both architectural and artistic, which accounts for the success of the Maeght Foundation for 50 years."

The exhibition presents Josep Lluís Sert's architecture in its relationship with art and the artists. Models, drawings, plans, photographs and films, sometimes made by Josep Lluís Sert himself, provide a new look at the birth of this masterpiece of architecture of the twentieth century; the Maeght Foundation, from the foundations of the project to its completion and extension projects.

The exhibition will also present other major architectural achievements that have art, its expression and its diffusion as objectives. These include The Pavilion of the Spanish Republic for the International Exhibition of 1937 in Paris, Joan Miró’s studio in Palma de Mallorca, Georges Braque’s home-studio project and Marc Chagall’s house project, Zao Wou-Ki Punta Martinet (Ibiza) home-studio, Besançon School of Fine Arts, The Miró Foundation in Barcelona.

Paintings and sculptures, excerpts from letters with Aimé Maeght and documents illustrate the intensity of Sert’s ties with the artists Jean Bazaine, Pierre Bonnard, Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Eduardo Chillida, Alberto Giacometti, Julio González, Vassily Kandinsky, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Pablo Palazuelo, Pierre Tal Coat, Raoul Ubac, Bram Van Velde ... and Le Corbusier.

Please note: a documentary film directed and written by Pablo Bujosa Rodríguez to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Sert’s death, 15 March 2013, will give an overview of the Spanish architect and present the great achievements of his career.

A roundtable discussion, "Josep Lluís Sert, the commitment to the work", will be held for this exhibition on 10 April, 2014 at the Fondation Maeght under the direction of Jean-Lucien Bonillo, architect and historian, professor at the National School of Architecture of Marseille. Talks by Jean-Lucien Bonillo, Jaume Freixa, Josep Maria Rovira, Elias Torres and Marc Barani (not confirmed).


The exhibition is under the artistic and scientific guidance of architect Jaume Freixa, a professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Jaume Freixa worked almost twelve years alongside Sert. Today he is a specialist of his work, a writer, curator and President of the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona.