There’s a brand new addition to the exceptional modern and contemporary art circuit in the south of France: the Fondation CAB, located in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. The new foundation is an offshoot of the Brussels non-profit art centre of the same name, dedicated to conceptual and minimalist art. CAB’s founder, businessman Hubert Bonnet, was looking for a second address, and fell for this 1950s-era former art gallery with modernist architecture, sensuous white curves and large bay windows.
The French architect Charles Zana renovated the space, adding a travertine reception desk, a bookshop-boutique, four guest rooms, a restaurant, and a lounge where you can flip through art books or just gaze out at artist Richard Long’s circle of white stones in the grass.
The art starts the moment you step through the front door, where Felice Varini has painted an installation of four orange circles. A series of rooms display works from Bonnet’s collection, including Carl Andre, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Donald Judd and Dan Flavin. These are complemented by revolving temporary exhibitions – the opening show, ‘Structures of Radical Will', combines minimalist pieces from the 1960s and 1970s with in situ works by contemporary artists.
Zana added four guest rooms to the foundation, each one unique and furnished with vintage 20th century pieces: a Charlotte Perriand table, Jean Prouvé chairs, an Alvar Aalto lamp, and Le Corbusier headboards that also serve as storage space and room separators. Zana says he worked closely with Bonnet on the design: ‘We imagined guest rooms we would like to stay in if we were in the Côte d’Azur.' The pièce de résistance is a 6mx6m demountable Prouvé house, perched between two koi ponds in the garden. Surprisingly, it is available to rent on booking.com (for about €800 a night).
Guests can take their breakfast in the foundation’s restaurant, the SOL, designed by Zana with benches and an accordion bar in the same creamy travertine used for Rome’s Piazza Navona fountain. On the wall, a Sol LeWitt artwork echoes the grid of the windows, with a view of Cap d’Antibes shimmering in the distance.
Maison Prouve at Fondation CAB
Interior of Maison Prouve at Fondation CAB
Artwork in the gardens of Fondation CAB
Gallery interior at Fondation CA
Clean, modernist gallery interior at Fondation CAB
Art on display at Fondation CAB
Room interior at Fondation CAB
Room interior looking out at Fondation CAB
Restaurant interior at Fondation CAB
Retail interior at Fondation CAB
INFORMATION
-
Meet the Palestinian artist putting a candy-coloured twist on traditional glassmakingWith her company Ornamental by Lameice, designer Lameice Abu Aker is bringing joy and optimism to a time-honoured craft
-
Messika’s fluid jewellery is given a textural twistThe Parisian brand borrows a textural finish previously reserved for high jewellery with its new collection, ‘Move Ciselé’
-
This ingenious London office expansion was built in an on-site workshopNew Wave London and Thomas-McBrien Architects make a splash with this glulam extension built in the very studio it sought to transform. Here's how they did it
-
A night at Pierre Jeanneret’s house, Chandigarh’s best-kept secretPierre Jeanneret’s house in Chandigarh is a modernist monument, an important museum of architectural history, and a gem hidden in plain sight; architect, photographer and writer Nipun Prabhakar spent the night and reported back
-
Lina Bo Bardi, the misunderstood modernist, and her influential architectureA sense of mystery clings to Lina Bo Bardi, a modernist who defined 20th-century Brazilian architecture, making waves still felt in her field; here, we explore her work and lasting influence
-
Oscar Niemeyer: a guide to the Brazilian modernist, from big hits to lesser-known gemsArchitecture master Oscar Niemeyer defined 20th-century architecture and is synonymous with Brazilian modernism; our ultimate guide explores his work, from lesser-known schemes to his big hits; and we revisit a check-in with the man himself
-
Modernist Travel Guide: a handy companion to explore modernism across the globe‘Modernist Travel Guide’, a handy new pocket-sized book for travel lovers and modernist architecture fans, comes courtesy of Wallpaper* contributor Adam Štěch and his passion for modernism
-
Discover architect Ico Parisi’s modernist sanctuaries on the banks of Lake ComoA string of sculptural sanctuaries by architect Ico Parisi on the banks of Lake Como helped cement the area as the heartland of Italian modernism; we explore his work in an article from the Wallpaper* archives
-
Ukrainian Modernism: a timely but bittersweet survey of the country’s best modern buildingsNew book ‘Ukrainian Modernism’ captures the country's vanishing modernist architecture, besieged by bombs, big business and the desire for a break with the past
-
Croismare school, Jean Prouvé’s largest demountable structure, could be yoursJean Prouvé’s 1948 Croismare school, the largest demountable structure ever built by the self-taught architect, is up for sale
-
Jump on our tour of modernist architecture in Tashkent, UzbekistanThe legacy of modernist architecture in Uzbekistan and its capital, Tashkent, is explored through research, a new publication, and the country's upcoming pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025; here, we take a tour of its riches
