Last Updated on June 30, 2024 by Allison Coe
Update: Going once… Going twice… SOLD! …For 3,285,000€!
Are you a Matisse super-fan? Well, here is your chance to buy a piece of Matisse. Not a painting, not an artifact, but something even rarer: the actual apartment in Old Nice where Matisse lived and painted from 1921 to 1938, his most joyous and prolific period, which is being auctioned off online November 9, 2023 with a starting bid of 1,785,000€.
Matisse and his family lived on the third floor with a view out on to the bustling Cours Saleya market, but in 1927 moved up to the 4th floor penthouse with the full wrap-around terrace and views of the market and the sea, which is the apartment that’s for sale. Located at the top of Cours Saleya at 1 Place Charles Felix, the penthouse apartment has 4 rooms over 1,690 square feet (157m2), and has been vacant for decades.
Here is a sneak peek inside:
So many of Matisse’s most famous works were painted right here! If you want to see more, find an out-of-print copy of this book, Henri Matisse The Early Years in Nice 1916-1930, through a used book dealer online.
It’s one of my most prized coffee table books and is a retrospective (in English!) of Matisse’s masterpieces from his time in Old Nice, most painted right in this apartment. It was from an exposition of his work at the National Gallery in Washington DC in the 80’s, and it is fantastic.
If you can’t afford the flat, you might at least be able to afford the book!
See related page: The Matisse Museum in Nice