The Domaine national de Chambord presents two monumental sculptures created by Alexander Calder in 1970 and 1974 at his studio in Saché (Indre-et-Loire): Théâtre de Nice, from the collections of the Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain de Nice (MAMAC), which has been displayed outside the Musée Matisse in Nice since 2022, and Horizontal, from the collections of the Centre Pompidou (Paris), previously exhibited opposite the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen.
Balanced on the tip of a large black stabile structure standing almost eight metres tall, the mobile section of Théâtre de Nice consists of a large steel beam from which three coloured discs (blue, yellow and red) are suspended.
Created four years later, Horizontal consists of a four-part black stabile topped by a mobile arm featuring five coloured elements (blue, yellow, red and black). The sculpture, displayed on the forecourt of the Centre Pompidou between 2011 and 2017, stands ten metres tall.
Displayed opposite one another in the formal French gardens of the Château de Chambord, on either side of the central avenue, the two works bring movement to the ornamental parterres. Viewed from the gardens, these two brightly coloured giants stand out strikingly against the façade of François I’s château. A monumental encounter between the French Renaissance and modern art.
