Musée National Marc Chagall

I started out reluctant to visit this museum during our brief stay in Nice. I am not a huge Chagall fan and was more or less dragged into it by the other members of our party. Wow, am I every glad that they did!
They museum was designed during Chagall’s life and he had input into its design and layout. Seeing the evolution of his style and the early influences on his life were interesting, as were the various media that he worked in… do NOT miss the stained glass in the theatre or the mosaic tucked away outside one of the final side rooms.
But the heart of the collection are the dozen or so ‘biblical’ canvases that capture significant scenes from the bible. Stunning. And the final piece is the room with a series of painting based on the Song of Solomon (one of the most beautiful pieces of erotic/​love poetry ever created… still amazes me it remained part of the bible) and dedicated by Chagall to his wife. The audio tour is included in the ticket price and is very thorough and informative.
Whether or not you like Chagall or even like art museums… do yourself a huge favor and visit this one. Magnificent!

The allure of this place is that it’s the only museum that was created during the lifetime of an artist. Chagall was involved in the building of this museum, as well as where each painting was placed, and how they were going to flow throughout the rooms. It’s a rather small space, with limited pieces compared to what you would normally expect in a larger museum. Much of the descriptions are only available in French, so you’re basically stuck with the hearing device that will give you some information.
I was a fan of his work in the past, which was partly why I wanted to stop by. For the price that you pay to get in, it’s not as big of a bang for your buck compared to other museums I have visited. Either way, it’s worth going if your’e a fan, but if not, you may feel that it was not as educational as you would have liked.

Museum is great. The staff however, in particular Corinne the con artist, were incredibly rude, DISHONEST, and took advantage of foreigners with KIDS, so watch out.
I came in with a group of seven students, who were all under 18 and should be granted free entry with proof of identity. I explained that they were under 18 in French (lived in France for nearly a year, worked here, studied here, I TEACH it for gods sake), after which my kids gave her their passports that she VERIFIED with her very own eyes, and she told us that entry would not be free but reduced to 7 euros. Not sure of this policy at first (I was told some museums don’t do free entries for non-​EU citizens), I asked her again, «alors l’entrée n’est pas gratuite même si elles ont moins de 18 ans?» To which she answered «non, parce que vous n’êtes pas de l’union européenne.» So I took her word for it, and told my students that they still had to pay. She would not accept their 20 euro bills and requested exact change because she «didn’t have enough change» (bullshit lie #2).
When my second group of students came in later with a French friend of mine – we had to take different buses to get there – I found out that they did not have to pay.
I returned and clarified with her colleague if my students had to pay. Obviously the answer was no, she called Corinne back, who was looking fairly pissed that she had been caught red-​handed. She then insisted that I misinformed her about their age (remember she did check their passports with her own ugly eyeballs), was reluctant to give us a refund although her colleague said she had made a mistake, blamed us for not giving her the right tickets for a refund, and took her sweet ass time to walk outside, find the «right» (imaginary) tickets, and then had the nerve to give us large bills instead of the seven euros she owed each of them individually. I don’t get this. We just spent five minutes looking for exact change and all of a sudden she couldn’t «find it». I smell a boatload of ugly, disgusting, disgraceful bullshit. And the annoyed look on her face told me she knew I called her out on it. You should be ashamed of yourself, Corinne. I hope you get the same crappy treatment when you visit California one day.
—–
Le musée, c’est beau, mais celle qui travaille à la réception, Corinne, est très rude, malhonnête, et elle profite des étrangers avec des enfants, alors faites gaffe.
Je suis rentrée avec 7 élèves de moins de 18 ans, qui devrait pouvoir rentrer gratuitement avec une pièce d’identité. Mes élèves lui ont donné leur passeports qu’elle a vérifiés avec ses propres yeux. Elle m’a dit qu’au lieu d’une entrée gratuite, c’était juste un tarif réduit. Alors comme je savais que des fois les musées n’offrent pas d’entrée gratuite aux personnes sans passeport européen, j’ai vérifié avec elle encore une fois le tarif –18, et mes élèves devaient payer 7 euros. En plus elle «n’avait pas de monnaie» et on s’est bien embêté pour trouver la somme exacte pour Clown Corinne.
Quand mon deuxième groupe d’élèves (de la même nationalité) est arrivé plus tard avec un ami français, j’ai appris qu’ils ont eu une entrée gratuite! Même avec la vérification de passeports! DU MÊME PAYS.
Bön alors à ce moment-​là je suis retournée à la réception où travaillait sa collègue qui était beaucoup plus compétente et beaucoup plus honnête. Elle m’a confirmé qu’il né fallait pas payer même si on n’était pas européen, parce que les élèves avaient moins de 18 ans. Elle a appelé Corinne qui déjeunait, et qui est retournée avec un air assez stupide et bien énervée parce que tout le monde a bien compris qu’elle a fait une sale arnaque. Bravo. Elle a insisté que je lui ai dit le contraire (que mes élèves avaient plus de 18 ans).et pourtant je l’ai répété de plusieurs façons ET ELLE A VÉRIFIÉ LES 7 PASSEPORTS! Nul. Après, son histoire inventée c’était qu’on n’avait pas «les bons tickets» pour un remboursement, et elle devait aller les chercher dans son cul pendant 7 minutes (avec un autre collègue à l’entrée du musée). Enfin, elle n’avait plus la monnaie exacte qu’on venait de lui donner. comme par hasard. Elle aime bien faire chier les enfants et leurs profs. J’espère qu’elle viendra un jour aux US, j’ai hâte de lui faire un doigt de «bienvenue». Elle devrait avoir honte, et je suggère que le musée la mette à la porte pour garder une réputation aussi bonne que les œuvres magnifiques qui y sont.

Un très bel endroit, les oeuvres sont bien mises en valeur, le parc est joli et le restaurant très agréable, surtout quand il fait beau… A recommander chaudement !

We took the bus to get here from our hotel; very simple — drops you off right across the street from the museum entrance. :)
Museum was fascinating; entrance fee is pretty heft though (but it includes an audio tour). We spent at least 1.5−2 hours here, just going through all the paintings and listening to the audio guide discuss each painting in detail.
My husband really enjoyed the artwork and so did I; lots of Biblical stories behind it.
There is a nice garden outside to stroll too…

Best Museum in France!
Only € 8! I love all the random goats and chickens he paints. I’m weird.
(Maybe its not the «Best» museum… but I’m just sick of seeing sculptures and paintings of Jesus dying again and again)

If you like Chagall and probably even if you don’t you will enjoy this museum. It is an amazing collection of these huge canvases depicting the stories from the Old Testament of the Bible.
The main rooms are all Chagall with the surrounding rooms the visiting exhibition. I also liked the stained glass works that were in the theater– although on my visit– the video was only in French (not sure if there is an English language version you can ask for)
There is also a small garden upfront with a little café where you can grab a coffee and a sandwich.
Public transportation (bus) will bring you to the site. If you have a minute– wander around the area. The Hotel Regina is lovely as well as there is the Matisse museum just up the street.

L’un des plus beaux musées de la Côte… et le must c’est l’entrée gratuite pour les moins de 26 ans ! Allez on en profite !

Schönes Museum, dessen moderne Architektur noch zusammen mit Chagall selbst entworfen wurde, mit einer idealen Größe (nicht zu groß…) und konsistent, da es mehr als ein Museum ist, nämlich ein Ausstellungsraum für ein monumentales Werk von Chagall, die Biblische Botschaft, bestehend aus 17 riesigen Gemälden von Szenen aus der Bibel. Die Erläuterungen vom Audioguide zu jedem Bild sind sehr klar und hilfreich, vor allem wenn man keinen Doktortitel in Kunstgeschichte besitzt…
Viele andere Werke von Chagall ergänzen die Sammlung des Museums: Gemälde, Glasmalereien, Skulpturen, Gravüren…
Die Besichtigung wird angenehm von einem Spaziergang im schönen Garten ergänzt.

Chagall’s spirtually inspired work will move you with his colors and and movement. I think it’s definitely worth the price of admission.
I noticed some mentioned the hike up to the Cimiez to the museum with no public transit nearby. That’s really not true. The museum is off the Boulevard Cimiez and one can take the Bus 15 from centrally located Deloye/​Rue Douchage stop and arrive a the Nice — Musée Chagall stop. It’s only a short walk from that stop.

10 Euro for the tour and the audio guide is free. After visiting the Van Gogh museum, Chagall seemed like a spoiled brat with these huge canvases, vivid use of a lot of colored paint, and this spa-​like museum he helped open in his lifetime. He escaped the war by coming to the US and then went back to Europe. This guy was privileged and commissioned as a prestigious artist.
All that aside, I appreciated the stories from the Bible and consider it as a form of evangelism when people are listening to the audio guides (even though the English one didn’t make sense at times). There’s a theater playing a documentary of his life (also, with terrible English translation) but it’s a good place to rest before hiking back down to where ever you need to go since there’s no public transportation nearby. The neighborhood around the museum is pretty nice.
After visiting here, you must also see the dome of the Opera Garnier in Paris. It is stunning.

10 euros was a little steep as an entrance fee. The museum is small but is centered around an incredible collection of large biblical paintings that are really spectacular. There are two other small rooms of permanent works that contain some large and small sketches, paintings and even an exterior mosaic. When we visited the exhibit focused on Chagall self-​portraits and was very well put together. We ended up watching the movie to expand the experience and we enjoyed it, be careful if you are not a French speaker since the movie is shown in English only a couple times a day. In summary, a small but well designed museum.

I thoroughly enjoyed is museum! Worth the hike and the fee! The modern garden around the museum is also beautiful, adding to the zen feeling evoked by the art inside. The Chagall paintings are huge and there is plenty of seating to sit and surround yourself in dreamlike stories.

Wonderful museum in a wonderful building.
Didn’t know much about Chagall before the visit. This is definitely the place to go for a full immersion experience.
Get the audio guide and spend most of your time with the paintings illustrating Chagall’s interpretation of the old testament biblical message.
Also worth checking out the auditorium, both to see the stained glass windows and to watch the about 45 minute movie about Chagall’s life (movie has many interviews with Chagall).
Definitely a priority when in Nice (after the beaches and the ice-​cream shops of course).

A picturesque garden surrounds the musée, whose modern architectural motif admittedly contrasts a bit with the classical works housed inside the structure.
Another contradiction was the non-​Chagall changing exhibition, which was a modern art exhibit during my visit. Spray painted Vans sneakers on canvas amongst the masterpiece oils of Chagall simply didn’t do the modern art pieces justice.
There is a splendid amount of color and light, and you are sure to get your Chagall fix here. The collection is truly worth visiting.
Don’t speak French? Grab one of the translation devices, and leave some extra time for sunning in the garden afterwards.

Worth visiting even if you aren’t a Chagall fan, though it might be wise to first call ahead to confirm that the entire venue is available to the public. During my particular visit about three-​quarters of it was off limits due to reconfiguration.
Be prepared to bring cash for speedy admissions processing.
Other Unilocalers are right to report that the galleries are awash with sunlight; the somber colors of the paintings offer a stark contrast.

The Chagall Museum is stunning. I can’t recommend it enough. It was really impressive to see all of the painting collected there together. The colors of the paintings were amazing; everything looked great with the light from the windows and hung upon the white walls of the museum. Then there is the room with all of the stained glass, it is really awe inspiring just to go sit in there for a while.
If you are visiting the museum I think it’s also worth it to drive around the Cimiez neighborhood a little bit and check out the architecture of the houses and the Hotel Regina, etc.

Im Gegensatz zu den meisten anderen Museen in Nizza muss man hier Eintritt zahlen und ich glaube, es gibt keine Ermäßigung für Studierende.
Das Museeum ist nicht überladen und es gibt zu den Werken des Künstlers viele Texte, so dass man sich richtig reinlesen und viel lernen kann — wenn man das möchte.

This museum was quite the hike from our hotel. We also weren’t anticpating such a hot humid day in the middle of September. The sunblock on my skin was slippery from heat. I also needed to use the restroom very badly. We finally reached the museum and got cleaned up. I walked out into cool air conditioning in a much better state.
We got English speaking remote devices that turned out to be our best friend.
The museum’s walls were stark white. This made Chagall’s bright colorful paintings pop. His paintings are so vivid and strong. His art reflects his feelings of love, home, politics, and religion. It’s amazing even if you’re not a deeply romantic political religious sentimental person. There are so many elements he incorporated in every aspect of every piece he created. Those little devices explained history, inspiration, and techniques used. It deconstructed every major aspect of his paintings. I appreciated the complexity of his art even more.
We also saw Chagall’s famous circular stained glass window. I remembered seeing it in a book when I was little. I had vowed to see it when I grew up. I was overjoyed the moment I saw it and remembered my vow. I saw a small chapel looking room with colorful stained glass windows. The doorway was roped off, but it was beautiful from where I stood. This was another image I remembered seeing when I was younger.
Every piece was powerful and bold. I couldn’t stop taking pictures (you can take pics without flash, there’s lots of lighting, and the bright colors photograph well). When we were done we checked out their gift shop. I only bought a magnet, but they had a lot of cool Chagall stuff in different languages.
If you’re in Nice this is a place worth the heat and the hike!

Je viens juste de m’inscrire sur Qype, il est génial.
Alors je donne mon avis !
C’est mon 3° avis et là, j’aoue, vu mon grand age que je fatigue un peu!
Qype est génial mais pas autant que Chagall !
Personnellement le thème du mariage me touché beaucoup chez Chagall.
Vous aimerez probablement, Aussi !
Gisèle

Ce musée est un must! Déjà parce qu’il renferme la plus belle collection (à ma connaissance) de Chagall, mais aussi parce qu’il a été conçu par le maître lui-​même, ce qui est quand-​même un point important (vous avez vu ce que Dali a fait a Figueras?) dans la mise en valeur des toiles. Les scènes bibliques, un festival de couleur et d’émotion et n’hésitez pas d’amener les enfants, ça leur plaira autant qu’à vous! cherchez le bouc, cherchez le coq

Un maitre de l’impressionisme, à voir absolument

Top exhibition
Chagall is one of the many artists with galleries on the Cotes d’Azur, and absolutely amongst the finest. You can also see some of his work at the Maeght Foundation.