Art & Design Trips to Nice

Right in the heart of the city, this sprawling temple of white marble enshrines a bold and stimulating collection of European and American modern art. Most notably New Realism and Pop Art there is also a collection from the Nice school, with works by Arman, César and Sosno and a stunning room filled with electric blue works by the late Yves Klein.

Built for a Russian prince, this splendid Genoese-inspired villa houses an unmissable collection of seventeenth to early twentieth-century works of art. Distributed among its palatial rooms are 18th-century greats like Fragonard to some wonderful Impressionist paintings and Rodin's imposing sculpture, The Kiss, which overlooks an ornate marble staircase.

Just a few steps away from the Hotel Regina where Matisse lived, this Genoese-style 17th-century villa celebrates Matisse’s life's work. The museum will allow the visitor to discover his mastery of different mediums and techniques and keeps a significant number of the artist's paintings, hundreds of his drawings and engravings, as well as an assortment of his sculptures and illustrated books. Various photographs and artefacts from Matisse's personal collection are also scattered around.

Contained within the strict geometry of this bunker-like building is the complete set of biblical paintings by long-time Riviera resident Marc Chagall. Arresting, colourful and otherworldly, these imposing paintings are complemented by the various preparatory sketches made by the artist at the inception of this series, which was designed to transmit, in his own words, 'a certain peace, a certain sense of religion and a sense of life's meaning'.

Life through a lens is displayed in all its forms at this slickly appointed photography gallery. Journalism, fashion, art and experimental photography all get their share of wall space. Temporary exhibition are always well chosen the most famous being the annual 'Septembre de la Photo' exhibition, which usually runs right through to November and spills over into some of the city's other museums and galleries.

The history of this 19th-century building is far from arty - it has been somewhat ignominiously used in its time as a public lavoir and a fish market - but its conversion in the 1960s into a municipal art gallery was a stroke of genius. The vaulted interior lends itself very well to the varied mix of (mainly modern) foreign and domestic art that is shown here in an ongoing programme of temporary exhibitions.

Set in vast parkland, this 18th-century villa is a catch-all centre for contemporary art. There's an art school on site, as well as an exhibition space devoted to cutting-edge work grouped under certain themes. The recent 'Transmission' show, for instance, explored the use of various forms of communication in art, and included some exhibits by Turner Prize-winner Jeremy Deller.

The Renoir Museum is a little gem, inviting a very personal view of the artist, his daily life, and the importance of his family. You can even go into his studio and see his brushes and the colours that were the last on his pallet. This was Auguste Renoir’s family home; he lived the last 12 years of his life on this beautiful estate and filled it with his sculptures, paintings, furnishings, photographs, and personal effects.

A splendid pink villa houses this collection of naïve art, bequeathed to the city by the eponymous M Jakovsky. Some 600 paintings, drawings and sculptures trace the history of this artistic movement from the 18th century to the present day.

Many of the Picasso works exhibited here were created only a few dozen yards from the place in which they are exhibited today. The museum houses works from other several major 20th-century artistic trends, among them Gleizes, Ernst, Balthus, Brasa.