(June 2026)
The Château de La Napoule is often associated with its towers, gardens, and breathtaking views over the Mediterranean. Yet its story extends far beyond the walls of a single place.
Every residency, encounter, and exhibition leaves traces that continue to resonate long after the artists have departed and the studios have fallen quiet. Some take the form of artworks; others become stories, memories, or new collaborations.
At the beginning of this summer, several events reminded us that the spirit of the Château continues to travel far beyond its walls.
Two Former Residents at Nuit Blanche
On June 6, two former artists-in-residence at La Napoule Art Foundation took part in this year’s edition of Nuit Blanche in Paris.
At Saint-Denys-du-Saint-Sacrement Church, Eugénie Foucaud presented Vestiges, an immersive installation exploring the relationships between memory, nature, and the sacred. Supported by La Napoule Art Foundation as part of this project, the artist continues her research into the fragility of ecosystems and the resilience of the living world.
A few kilometres away, at Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois Church, Agathe Roger transformed the nave with Polymorphe I, a monumental installation composed of nearly 160 metres of tissue paper. Flowing from the altar into the heart of the church, the work turned the architecture into a sensitive landscape, evoking water, breath, and the invisible bonds that connect us.
Seeing two former residents exhibiting in such emblematic Parisian venues is a reminder that the projects developed at the Château continue to grow and evolve long after the artists have left La Napoule.
Listening to the Living World
On June 21, to celebrate the Fête de la Musique and the summer solstice, the Château hosted a new artistic encounter imagined with the association ALIVE!.
Throughout the afternoon, visitors were invited to slow down and pay attention to the sounds surrounding them: a lyrical voice echoing through the gardens, reinterpreted musical compositions, poems inspired by birdsong, and simply the rustling of the wind through the trees.
One question resonated throughout the experience:
How can we learn to listen again?
Listening to a voice. Listening to a landscape. Listening to the quiet presences that inhabit a place.
An invitation to see the Château not only as a historic or artistic site, but as a living ecosystem where contemporary creation, memory, and nature meet.
Marie Clews in Mougins
On June 24, the FAMM – Women Artists Museum Mougins organised a conference dedicated to Marie Clews at the Mougins Art Center. Presented by Nelcy Mercier, Director of Operations for La Napoule Art Foundation in France, the event drew a full audience.
More than a historical lecture, the conference invited visitors to rediscover a woman of remarkable modernity. Despite the many challenges she faced—including a socially condemned divorce, separation from her children, two World Wars, and the sudden loss of her husband Henry Clews—Marie pursued their shared vision with extraordinary determination, giving it new life through the creation of La Napoule Art Foundation in the early 1950s.
Her story also reminds us of the deeply humanistic vision that continues to inspire the Foundation today: the belief that art can serve as a universal language, creating connections between people, cultures, and generations. More than seventy years after its creation, this legacy continues to shape the residencies, exhibitions, and cultural programmes developed at Château de La Napoule.
Broadening Perspectives
A few days before the opening of Mise en abyme, the La Napoule Art Foundation team was welcomed to the Espace de l’Art Concret (EAC) in Mouans-Sartoux for a day of discovery and exchange, continuing a first encounter initiated several weeks earlier at Château de La Napoule.
Bringing together staff from across every department of the Foundation, the visit offered the opportunity to discover the EAC’s exhibitions, collection storage facilities, educational spaces, and mediation programmes, while encouraging exchanges on professional practices.
Beyond discovering another institution, the day served as a reminder that welcoming artists, curating exhibitions, preserving collections, caring for a heritage site, and engaging audiences are all part of the same cultural mission. These shared experiences strengthen a common culture and reinforce the connections between the people who bring cultural institutions to life every day.
Because an artistic institution remains alive only when it continues to learn, experiment, and look beyond itself.
Echoes That Continue to Travel
Whether through former residents exhibiting in new contexts, an invitation to listen differently to the living world, a conference celebrating Marie Clews’ legacy, or an exchange between cultural professionals, each of these moments extends conversations first begun at Château de La Napoule.
They remind us that the Foundation’s vocation has never been to turn inward, but to remain a place of encounter, transmission, and the circulation of ideas.
As the upcoming exhibition Mise en abyme gradually takes shape in the White Gallery, these moments from June reflect the same ongoing movement: a place where artists, artworks, visitors, and staff continue to invent new ways of creating, learning, and sharing, far beyond the Château’s walls.
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