My visit to Fondation Carmignac, the newly-opened art centre at Porquerolles, last year was by far my favourite outing of 2018. I was lucky to get there just before it closed for winter, when lots of the exhibits went back to Paris.
Now it is re-opening with fresh artworks, on 13th April, and tickets are already on sale on their website.
If you do want to visit, pre-booking is essential as only 50 people are allowed inside each half-an-hour; when we went on a September weekday (not holiday time), it was really busy and visitors without tickets were being turned away.
Here’s a link to my post on visiting the island: https://aixcentric.com/2018/09/20/visiting-porquerolles/
Scroll down for the post on the gallery itself written following my visit:
This brand new art centre at Porquerolles is simply stunning and I heartily recommend a visit.
From the outside, it is hard to believe that there is a spacious gallery tucked away underneath.
If you have visited the island of Porquerolles, you will know that it is a carefully protected environment with no new buildings or extensions allowed. So an existing Provencal mas and outbuildings have been renovated, and enlarged by digging out a 2000m2 gallery sous-sol, flooded with light from above. A large pool on the surface has a glass bottom, allowing ripples of light to play on the gallery walls below.
Outside, the extensive Mediterranean gardens hold permanent sculptures and installations, nestled in olive groves or banks of rosemary and lavender. And below the wonderful blue of the Mediterranean twinkles in the sunshine. What a location!
A sculpture ‘Alycastre’ by Miquel Barceló guards the entry….Alycastre is the legendary dragon of
One Hundred Fish Fountain
Porquerolles. Stairs lead down to the main gallery where the beautiful ‘One Hundred Fish Fountain’ by Bruce Nauman splashes water through its pool. Under water life was also the theme of a 16m-long work by Barceló, curved into a specially designed room reminiscent of Monet’s Nympheas installation. Bean bags are provided so visitors can lie down and enjoy the dream-like work.
The temporary exhibition, Sea of Desire, has works by Andy Warhol, de Kooning, Jean-Michel Basquiat (magnificent Fallen Angel), Yves Klein, Rothko….plus photography. We loved the room on female beauty which juxtaposes the modernism of Roy Lichetenstein with two Botticellis, one on loan but the other from the Cartignac collection. These all return to Paris in 6 weeks.
The staircases are beautifully decorated, one with fraying rope (I know it sounds odd but is lovely), the other a Japanese installation of tiny colourful hangings like wind-chimes.
The atmosphere is very hushed. You have to leave your shoes at the entrance and proceed bare-foot. It really is the only solution for a pristine gallery accessed by a dusty, stony track.
And they only allow 50 people entry every half hour.
Again it’s all about control and making sure the space doesn’t get too crowded. We visited on Tuesday (outside school holidays) so were expecting it to be quiet, but all places were taken. Thank goodness we booked!
Shoes back on, we enjoyed the sculpture gardens, plants and lovely views. There is a café which we didn’t have time
Even the benches are works of art….
for as we had a boat to catch, but people seemed happily ensconced under the trees with billowing sails to protect them from the sun.
A post about visiting Porquerolles will follow, but if you are visiting Fondation Carmignac, don’t worry about access. It’s a fairly easy walk up from the port…under a kilometre just off the track along to Plage Notre Dame. It took me about 15 mins, with stops to photograph the view. Saw people going along with buggies, but neither prams nor dogs are allowed in the gallery.
It’s open daily, 15€ admission – – – and do book online.
http://www.fondationcarmignac.com/fr
aixcentric 
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