With a bow window and four balconies overlooking the Côte d’Azur, this large apartment looks like it was made for Henri Matisse, who moved in when he was already an established pioneer of modern art in 1938. It is now on the market for $2.67 million. , courtesy of Côte d’Azur Sotheby’s International Realty.
The historic property exudes Belle Époque charm and comprises five rooms, including two bedrooms, with access to a swimming pool, garage and tennis courts.
The apartment that previously belonged to Matisse at the Regina in Nice, France. Courtesy of Côte d’Azur Sotheby’s International Realty.
The sunny abode was not just a vacation home for Henri Matisse, but his main residence and studio for about ten years towards the end of his life. At the time, he lived a relatively solitary existence, having separated from his wife, and was often bedridden or used a wheelchair after undergoing an operation in 1941.
It was under these conditions that Matisse simplified his practice by working only with paper, scissors, glue and gouache to create cutouts, which remain some of his most beloved works. The new owners of the apartment can have fun imagining the walls as they once were, when they exhibited the most monumental of these works.
The artist Henri Matisse working in his studio in Regina in Nice in 1952. Photo: AFP via Getty Images.
Matisse, born in northern France, first settled in Nice in 1917. The city had a powerful hold on the artist for the rest of his life. In 1940 he considered moving to Brazil to escape the Nazi occupation of France but ultimately decided to stay.
“The great colorful reflections of January, the brightness of the day are what pushed me to settle here”, he said to himself in 1952, shortly before his death in Nice in 1954.
The apartment is located in the Régina on boulevard de Cimiez, one of the most emblematic buildings in Nice. It was originally built in the 1890s as a luxury hotel for the Riviera’s wealthiest guests, including Queen Victoria, who stayed there three times, before being converted into an apartment building. apartments in 1937.
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