Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Cantini Museum occupies a mansion built in 1694 for the Compagnie du Cap Nègre, specialized in coral fishing and wool trade. Sold in 1709 to the Montgrand family, the house changed hands several times before being acquired in 1888 by Jules Cantini, a sculptor and marbrier from Marseille. When he died in 1916, he left the building to the city to become a museum of decorative arts, inaugurated in 1936.

Originally dedicated to works from the 17th to the 19th centuries, including Provencal painters such as Paul Guigou or Adolphe Monticelli, the museum specializes after 1950 in modern art (1900-1960). His collections cover pointillism, fauvism, cubism, surrealism and abstraction, with major works by Matisse, Derain, Dufy, Kandinsky, Miró or Masson. The site also bears witness to the exile of surrealists in Marseilles during the Second World War.

The mansion, an example of 17th century civil architecture, also houses sculptures (Maillol, Gonzalez, Arp) and an exceptional graphic background (drawings, prints, photographs). The acquisition policy has made the Cantini Museum one of the most important public collections in France for modern art, alongside those in Lyon or Grenoble. Its natural complement is the Museum of Contemporary Art of Marseille, dedicated to periods after 1960.

The building, classified among historical monuments, illustrates the evolution of Marseille artistic tastes, from 19th century academicism to the vanguard of the 20th century. Its history also reflects the local patronage, with figures such as Cantini, whose legacy allowed the creation of a major cultural space in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.

Among the specifics of the museum are his surrealist collection, linked to the presence in Marseilles of artists such as André Breton or Victor Brauner during the war, and his Provencal fonds, with works by the Marseille school. Temporary exhibitions and the rotation of fragile works (drawings, photographs) boost its programming.

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