Matisse Museum

Excellent Experience at the Matisse Museum Accessibility & Location: The Matisse Museum was easy to access, with convenient public transport options and nearby parking. Clear signage guided visitors smoothly to entrances and exits, and the walking paths were comfortable for all ages, including elderly visitors. The surrounding area was peaceful, clean, and well-kept, making the approach to the museum pleasant. Entry & Organization: The entry process was well managed — ticketing was quick and efficient, lines moved fast, and staff at the entrance were polite and professional. Informational materials and signs were clear, accurate, and helpful, setting the tone for an organized visit. Ambience & Presentation: The museum’s atmosphere was calm, elegant, and perfectly suited to the spirit of Henri Matisse’s art. The lighting and layout allowed each piece to be appreciated properly, and the building itself reflected the artist’s world beautifully — bright, airy, and reflective of Mediterranean harmony. The spaces were spotless and comfortable, with good temperature control and crowd management. Exhibits / Features: The artworks were well-curated, offering an engaging journey through Matisse’s evolution. Photography was allowed where appropriate and managed respectfully. All artwork explanations are in French only, with no English translations. For a museum in such a popular tourist country, bilingual descriptions should be standard. Staff & Visitor Support: Staff were visible and courteous throughout the museum, always ready to assist when needed. The facilities, including restrooms and the gift shop, were clean and well maintained, adding to the overall comfort of the visit. Value & Experience: The visit offered excellent value — beautifully organized, inspiring, and educational. The Matisse Museum delivered exactly what one hopes for: a serene, thoughtful experience surrounded by art that celebrates color, form, and emotion. ⭐ 4.5 / 5

A small museum showcasing the things that inspired Matisse. A focused but modest collection, perfect for Matisse fans or a tranquil cultural stop. It might take a bit longer to get inside, but you can walk through it fairly quickly. I felt it could use a few more visual displays. Still, for Matisse lovers like me, it’s a lovely museum, set within a very large park.

Beautiful museum dedicated to Henri Matisse (1869-1954). It is close to the Hotel Regina where Matisse lived and worked from 1938 to 1943. I loved the current exhibition "Matisse Mediterranee(s)" with significant artworks loaned from the Museum of Modern Art, the Saint Louis Museum of Art, the Centre Pompidou, and other major museums. The permanent collection is great too. It includes some of the studies for the famous Dance paintings created for the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. Another highlight is a copy of the famous swimming pool cutouts remade in ceramics after the original at the Museum of Modern Art. I also loved the Calder outside the museum. A must see museum for all Matisse fans like myself.

The Musée Matisse is an essential pilgrimage for art lovers visiting Nice. It trades the encyclopedic scale of larger museums for a deep, personal, and profoundly moving look at a single artist's journey. It's a place not just to see art, but to understand the man behind it and the city that so deeply inspired him. Don't miss it.

I really enjoyed seeing Matisse’s work in person. When I was studying Art in school, we learned a little about Matisse and his art had an influence on my creative projects, so it was brilliant to learn more about the artist and see his iconic work up close. I recommend this place for a visit if you’re in Nice. It’s one of 8 public venues which are included on the culture visit ticket you can buy for 15€ (at the time I visited) rather than paying anywhere between 8€ and 12€ for each one.

Beautiful museum, I visited during the Matisse Méditerranée exhibition, a spectacular collection that shows Matisse’s multiple artistic skills and interests. We visited on Monday afternoon and it was quiet. We bought some really nice paintings at the museum shop.

The Matisse museum showcases the breadths of work of Matisse, from oil paintings, paper cutouts to abstract works, stained glass, and sculptures. The exhibit is larger than it seems from the outside, as it includes two subterranean levels. Wheelchair accessible. Nice gift shop.

The Matisse Museum was a fascinating experience. I visited on a weekday with my friend, and it turned out to be such an inspiring place. I’m glad I had read a bit about its history beforehand — I think it’s worth going there with at least some preparation to fully appreciate it.

Incredibly long wait for tickets - not sure why other than only one person selling them Smallish museum in a cool setting - an old villa set amidst 100+ year old olive trees and Roman ruins! Interesting exhibit comparing David Hockney's art to Matisse

Sort of small for Matisse. They had a Hockney exhibit which I could of cared less to see. Not a big Hockney fan. I find him a generic 60s Andy Warhol clone but minus pop culture. The building is nice in that it's air conditioned and laid out well. Staff was friendly. They have lockers to lock your bags and chairs to rest in. Overall worth the 10e for admission for the small amount of Matisse and air conditioning.

The museum has a beautiful, vibrant exterior perfect for photo ops, and inside there is a lot to behold. I am not the biggest Matisse fan, but being able to see his work up close and view his style evolve over such a short period of time was incredible. Additionally, when I visited (August 2022), there was a David Hockney exposition. I had never heard of Hockney before, but I actually liked his work even more than Matisse's. Hockney is also still alive, so it was cool to see some of his experiments and works using an iPad! My recommendation is to go early (opens @ 10h) and beat the crowds. You can be in an out in under an hour with a newfound appreciation for both Matisse and Hockney. Highly recommend! Happily, Clayton Cohn

Small, simple museum that's part of Nice's museum program - our ticket gave us free entry to a large number of museums in the city for 24 hours afterwards (unfortunately, we had a flight to catch the next day so couldn't take advantage of this). We saw the museum in 2 hours - it was a short, non-overwhelming daytime activity. There were nice sofas in the front atrium, and as a nursing mom, they were very useful as a pit stop for me and my baby! You can download a free app with an audio guide, which was nice! However, not every piece of art that has an audio description had an indicator icon next to it, so we missed a bunch of descriptions going through the museum. Each audio description was also very slow to load, and was listed alphabetically by artwork name, which didn't make it very easy to navigate (we had to scroll and look to see if something existed every time we went to a new piece of art). Still, it was free, so I can't complain too much. Overall an enjoyable museum!

Musee Matisse is very expensive with very little to offer the visitor. The floorplan is difficult to navigate. The staff is not helpful when one wants to find the Matisse works. If you are a regular museum goer, you have likely seen better examples of his works elsewhere. Save your money and energy for the Chagall museum.

Odds and ends of the Matisse collection are on exhibit here. The entrance to the museum is what appears to be a restored and converted mansion-hotel (more accurately the Hotel Regina) atop a hill overlooking Nice. The museum is deceptively spacious as it also features a large underground gallery. Admission is free to the public. Guided individual tours cost 5 Euros each.

Musée Matisse is average. Lacks but a small number of original Matisse art, poor signage and overall layout. If you are planning to visit other Nice municipal museums, then spend the 10 euros. Otherwise, it is not worth it. Much of Matisse's work is held by museums in the United States like the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.

We spent $25 Euros to get there by taxi and discovered that the museum was closed. We had called ahead and went on the day it is supposed to be open. There was nothing in the recorded message saying they were closed. Such disdain for the public should not be rewarded with a visit. Very disappointed.

The great thing about this museum is it is high in the Cimiez in the beautiful Villa des Arène. The collection chronicals Matisse's work from the his beginnings to the end of his life. Many of the pieces were contributed by Matisse himself and by his heirs. For €1.50 you can ride the bus up to the museum or if you are willing, take a hike up the hill. If you can do, you can sit in the park across from the meseum while visiting the ruins of Cemenelum. You must also visit the Cimiez Monastery. Walk through the garden of the monestery and take in a spectacular view of port of Nice.

This museum is ok, however you will find better examples and there are no photos here. My advise is to move on, unless you really really must see any of his work.

* beware, the ticket office closes at 5:30p and they will not let you in + this tidbit isn't posted anywhere so they turned us away as rude as they possibly could ... the lady got so tired of listening to me plead to get in that she said "I don't speak English" (in perfect english) * if I could give it zero stars I would and not because of the artist and his works but because of their terrible customer service. extremely rude and had no compassion for our situation. we arrived at 5:35p and they wouldn't sell us a ticket even though the museum closes at 6p. *** we did talk with a couple locals that said this museum isn't worth it but we do love his art so had to make the effort regardless *** we also told them that we're leaving on a plane tomorrow but they wouldn't budge. all three of them just shook their heads and turned us away. very sad as we really wanted to go but it seems that little rules like that ticket office closing should be posted somewhere...frustrating

Not worth the trip! I was thoroughly disappointed with my visit to the Matisse museum. The admission is free, but unfortunately that was evident in its curation. The museum was not air conditioned properly and they seemed to be doing renovations in the basement while paintings and other artwork were out and exposed! The horror! My main disappointment was that their collection of Odalisques was at another museum at the time. That was my main reason for visiting the museum, and I'm assuming the museum's collection is much enhanced by them. Furthermore, there was a gigantic hike to get to the museum, a little much for a sunny leisurely day of culture.

Among museums of artists willing to spend the later part of their lives in southern French seaside towns, this is my among my favorites (also check out Musee Picasso in Antebe)! This is perhaps 20 minutes north of Nice and will cost you 20 Euros by cab, because Nice taxis apparently run on gold fuel or something. Otherwise, the museum was a great stop to take a break from sunburn.

I enjoyed viewing the collection of technical works. I would have liked to have seen more of his work though. It will only take an hour to go around the place at most. Easy access, lovely gardens and a fair price for entry

Quite a disappointment. Almost none of his best known works. Some drawings of his cathedral but very sparse museum. No place to check a bag so one of us had to wait outside! Nothing like Chagall museum which was Fantastique!

This museum seems to be mostly a collection of what they found in Matisse's house and workshop when he died. The second floor is not very interesting since it's mostly revolves around a church that Matisse built in Vence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapelle_du_Rosaire_de_Vence), which is easily visitable instead of the museum. The first floor has one room of sculptures and one room of other 2-D works that are worth consideration, but most of the art presented is sketches, drafts and preparatory work for greater pieces. Unless you are a big fan of Matisse, I would pass.