Musée National Marc Chagall, Nice

The Musée National Marc Chagall is a national museum on Avenue du Docteur Ménard, on the lower slopes of Cimiez hill in Nice, built to house Chagall's Biblical Message, seventeen large paintings on the Bible. A full ticket costs about €10, and it suits art lovers on the Côte d'Azur, often as the first stop before the Musée Matisse further up the hill.

Malraux's decision and the 1973 opening

In 1966 Marc Chagall and his wife Valentina offered the French state the Biblical Message series. In 1969 the culture minister André Malraux decided to build a museum in Nice to house it, and it was inaugurated on 7 July 1973, Chagall's birthday, with the artist present. It is described as the first national museum in France built in honour of an artist during his lifetime. First called the national museum of the Biblical Message, it took its present name in 2008.

Twelve canvases from Genesis and Exodus

Twelve large canvases in the main hall tell stories from Genesis and Exodus, from the creation of man and Noah's ark to Moses, in strong blues, reds and greens. A smaller room shows the five paintings of the Song of Songs, painted in warm reds. Chagall also made work for the site itself: stained-glass windows in the auditorium and a mosaic over a reflecting pool. Temporary exhibitions in summer look at other parts of his career.

Single-level galleries and a Mediterranean garden

The building was designed to serve the paintings, with plain walls and natural light, and it is laid out on one level, so it is fully accessible. A Mediterranean garden of olive trees, cypress, pine and lavender surrounds it, with a garden café.

André Hermant's design and 400 more works

The architect André Hermant designed the museum, and Chagall followed its construction closely during his lifetime. Beyond the seventeen Biblical Message canvases, the collection holds more than 400 paintings, gouaches, drawings and pastels. The Song of Songs paintings hang in a hexagonal room off the main hall, and the auditorium also shows a film about Chagall's life. Atout France describes the garden as an olive grove park looking out over Nice, a good place to sit before or after the galleries.