Image: musée d'art moderne et d'art contemporain de Nice, New York
Alexander Calder’s monumental sculpture 'Théâtre de Nice' is set to leave the forecourt of the Musée Matisse in Nice for an extended loan to the Domaine national de Chambord, where it will be shown from 15 October 2026 to 29 August 2027. The loan is being presented by the Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain de Nice as part of its ‘MAMAC en voyage’ collection-lending programme, which continues while the museum remains closed for renovation.
According to the museum, the work, also identified on its site as 'Théâtre de Nice' and formerly titled 'Stabile-mobile', was created in 1970 and belongs to the MAMAC collection. The sculpture has been installed on the north forecourt of the Musée Matisse in Nice since 2022, after previously being placed on the forecourt of the MAMAC when that museum opened in 1990. The current loan means the piece will return to Nice in autumn 2027 at the end of the borrowing period.
The Chambord presentation is linked to AR(t]CHIPEL, a festival born of the partnership between the Centre Pompidou and the Région Centre-Val de Loire. The MAMAC says that around fifteen heritage and cultural venues in the region are taking part in activities marking two Calder anniversaries: the centenary of the artist’s arrival in France, in the Loire Valley, and the fiftieth anniversary of his death. The museum describes the loan as an exceptional one.
At Chambord, Calder’s sculpture will be shown alongside another monumental work by the artist, 'Horizontal' (1974), from the Centre Pompidou collection. The museum says the two pieces are conceived as facing one another in the French formal gardens of the château, on either side of the central avenue, where their bright colours are intended to stand out against the façade of François I’s castle. The pairing is framed by the site as a dialogue between the French Renaissance and modern art.
The MAMAC’s page on the work underlines its structure as an abstract monumental sculpture in steel, composed of two distinct parts: the stabile, or fixed structure, and the mobile element. The stabile is described as made up of three black components held together with bolts, while the mobile consists of a large steel counterbalanced arm from which blue, yellow and red disks hang. The museum identifies the work as a familiar landmark in Nice’s cultural and urban landscape.
The loan is also accompanied by restoration of the sculpture’s mobile section, supported by the Centre Pompidou and the Domaine national de Chambord. The museum’s July newsletter places the departure of 'Théâtre de Nice' within a broader programme of off-site activity while the MAMAC remains closed, including online collection resources and other travelling collection loans, among them Andy Warhol’s 'Dollar Sign' at the Fonds Hélène & Edouard Leclerc pour la culture in Landerneau.
