Lille is hosting a number of cultural highlights and venues in 2015 with an amazing programme of arts and festivals…
From 13th June, La Villa Cavrois, a masterpiece of modernist architecture by Robert Mallet-Stevens will open to visitors; in the Lille Fine Arts museum, ducks will feature in masterpieces and at the Matisse Museum there is a Geneviève Claisse retrospective. From September, Lille will delight visitors by hosting an incredible four month festival: Renaissance. And for next year, don’t miss the Modigliani Retrospective…
A masterpiece of modernist architecture
The Villa Cavrois opens to visitors on June the 13th, 2015. Completed in 1932 in Croix (Greater Lille), designed by Robert Mallet-Stevens, it is considered to be a masterpiece of modernist architecture. The 1840 m² of house was lived in by the Cavrois family until 1987. It suffered extensive damage between 1980 and 2001, despite having been listed as a historic monument in December 1990. Purchased by the State in 2001, the Centre des Monuments Nationaux has restored the grounds and interior of this major 20th-century monument at a cost of some 23 million Euros. A tablet app will enable visitors to discover the villa in an interactive way, with an augmented reality reconstitution of the villa as it was in 1932, including furniture. Some of the original furniture now on display was donated by American collectors. An “artistic infiltration” by artist Jean Sylvain Bieth will enhance the visit and seek to reconstitute certain events in the history of the villa and of the life of the family who lived there. www.villa-cavrois.fr
Donald Duck is the guest of the Lille Fines art museum
For the 2nd edition of Open Museum, Interduck is the playful interpretation of artists who like to tweak iconic works from art history by adding ducks to them! The works are exhibited throughout the collections of the museum, think of it as a kind of treasure hunt comprising masterpieces and parodies where nobody from Leonardo da Vinci to Picasso, not forgetting Friedrich and Monhet, gets away unscathed. On show for the first time in France, they are expected to attract huge numbers.
The Palais des Beaux-Arts gives carte blanche to artists you don’t expect to see in a museum: film directors, fashion designers, musicians, actors, writers, top chefs etc., famed and loved for their creations and their penchant for building bridges between the arts. Each personality is free to put forward their vision of the museum, taking it by storm every which way in an initiative known as Open Museum. www.pba-lille.fr
Genevieve Claisse Exhibition – Matisse Museum
The Matisse Museum of Le Cateau-Cambrésis highlights the vitality of artistic paths led by the main representatives of geometric abstraction in France. Genevieve Claisse, a French geometrical abstract painter is featured in 2015. The museum showcases a collection selected by Matisse himself – and is the only museum dedicated to any artist where they conceived the presentation of their own works. Matisse was born locally and was very attached to the north of France though he lived most of his life in the south. http://museematisse.lenord.fr/
Lille 3000 Festival – Renaissance
Lille 3000 presents its 4th themed production, Renaissance, seeking to present the vitality of today’s world. Millions of visitors thronged to see the previous festivals Bombaysers de Lille, Europe XXL and Fantastic and Lille is holding out the promise of yet more wonderful offerings for this 2015 production. Lille 3000’s recipe for success: the metamorphosised city invites passers-by to venture into exhibitions, concert halls and even theatres as the whole city becomes one huge living artwork. A grand opening parade in a festive and friendly ambience in true Nord style sets the tone for the four months of festivities. www.lille3000.com : 26/09/2015 to 17/01/2016
Amedeo Modigliani, A Retrospective
At the LaM – Lille Métropole Musée d’art moderne, d’art, from 26 February to 5 June 2016 – an exceptional retrospective of the work of Amedeo Modigliani.
An Italian painter and sculptor, Modigliani had a brief but fertile career. The Museum holds one of the finest French public collections of the famous artist from Montparnasse: no fewer than 6 paintings, 8 drawings, and a rare sculpture in marble, assembled by Roger Dutilleul and Jean Masurel, founders of the LaM’s collection of modern art. Roger Dutilleul was a passionate collector who met Modigliani in 1918, less than two years before the artist’s untimely death. As an homage to that encounter, the LaM is orchestrating an exhibition that will bring together this exceptional collection, along with numerous new loans. Some one hundred of the artist’s paintings and drawings will be on display, alongside works by Constantin Brancusi, Pablo Picasso, Jacques Lipchitz, Chaïm Soutine, Moïse Kisling, Henri Laurens and André Derain among others. www.musee-lam.fr
To make the most of your stay, a 5 star boutique hotel, Clarance, just opened in Lille Old town and the 5 star Hermitage Gantois has installed a spa and swimming-pool.
24 hours in Lille – what to see and do
10 great places to eat out in Lille from a Champagne bar in a 17th Century convent to a lesson with a chef where you eat your own gastronomic creation
The beautiful second hand book market in the old stock exchange in Lille
Braderie de Lille – the biggest flea market in Europe!
