The Fondation Maeght unveils its Summer 2026 programme featuring Ellsworth Kelly and Peter Knapp

Summer Programme 2026

Ellsworth Kelly – At the Edge of Water
Peter Knapp : The Era of Courrèges

Aerial view of the Fondation Maeght – Silvio d’Ascia extension© Silvio d’Ascia Architecture – extension architect / Photo © Sergio Grazia
The Fondation Maeght, the first foundation for modern and contemporary art in France, located on the French Riviera, unveils its Summer programme. In the galleries of the historic building, Ellsworth Kelly – At the Edge of Water explores a theme that, while never previously examined in depth, runs throughout the American artist’s work, offering new insight into his creative process and ways of seeing. In the extension gallery, now dedicated to focused archival exhibitions, photographer Peter Knapp has been granted carte blanche to revisit the Courrèges revolution. The couturier had commissioned a series from him to be created at the Fondation Maeght—an emblematic site of the modernity that shaped the 1960s. In dialogue with the Ellsworth Kelly exhibition, the Fondation Maeght will also present an American Season featuring concerts, dance performances, and musical highlights. The Fondation’s gardens, the glass-roofed café-restaurant, and the perimeter wall bearing Tal Coat’s mosaic have also been recently restored, helping preserve the unique atmosphere of the Fondation Maeght.t

Fondation Maeght, la Cour Giacometti. Photo Olivier Amsellem – Archives Fondation © Succession Alberto Giacometti / ADAGP, Paris 2025.
Extension by Silvio d’Ascia – Aerial view of the Fondation Maeght © Silvio d’Ascia Architecture – architect of the extension / Photo © Sergio Grazia
Exhibitions

Ellsworth Kelly – At the Edge of Water
June 27 – November 15, 2026

Following the success in 2025 of its major retrospective devoted to Barbara Hepworth, which brought renewed public attention to the modern British artist, the Fondation Maeght is presenting, from 27 June to 15 November 2026, a major exhibition dedicated to the American artist Ellsworth Kelly. Entitled Ellsworth Kelly – At the Edge of Water, the exhibition is exploring —for the first time— the presence of water in the artist’s work, through an approach that is both iconographic and methodological, conceived by guest curator Éric de Chassey, a leading specialist of Kelly’s oeuvre. Through its unprecedented thematic focus, the exhibition positions itself as a significant contribution to art history, offering a renewed understanding of Kelly’s work and of his working method.

Ellsworth Kelly, Helsinki (Wrestlers), 1984, postcard collage d, 10,5 x 14,9 cm. Jack Shear © Ellsworth Kelly Foundation
Peter Knapp: The Era of Courrèges
May 14 – November 8, 2026

The Fondation Maeght presents its first thematic exhibition blending art and fashion, featuring a special exhibition curated by photographer Peter Knapp. A close friend of André Courrèges and the Maeght family, he lived through those years of modernity, capturing them in his studio, on the street, and even at the Fondation Maeght. In 1965, André Courrèges presented his spring-summer haute couture collection. He developed a new vision of fashion, deliberately setting aside conventions to focus solely on the silhouette and architecture: miniskirts, white, structured forms and more. In this collection, he shaped the female silhouette according to rules that belong as much to architecture as to fashion. The modern woman was born; it was the explosion of the Courrèges style, “a style that is not merely an aesthetic vision but corresponds to a profound philosophy defining a way of life.”

Exhibition view, “Peter Knapp: The Era of Courrèges”. Photo Thérèse Verrat and Vincent Toussaint © Fondation Maeght, all rights reserved
Programme – An American Season

On the occasion of the major Ellsworth Kelly exhibition, the Fondation Maeght has developed an American Season programme, bringing together various artists and partners across concerts, film, dance, and more. The programme is complemented by additional highlights. For further information on events, please follow this link.

Practical information

Ellsworth Kelly – At the Edge of Water
June 27 – November 15, 2026

Peter Knapp: The Era of Courrèges
May 14 – November 8, 2026