Overview

Musée Matisse is an art gallery devoted to the works of Henri Matisse, who lived in Nice from 1917 until his death in 1954. It is one of, if not the largest collection of his work, which includes painting, sculpture as well as his personal affects. The museum is housed in a villa in the grounds of a park. Overall access is good but could improve.

Transport & Parking

The museum is in Cimiez, a hilly area of Nice, just north of the main tourist area. It is easily accessible by public transport. I had an old guide book so the bus it recommended no longer ran there. From the centre of Nice a bus number 15 takes you to the entrance of the park which houses the museum. The bus is quite regular and is step free with a wheelchair space. I picked up the bus from Rue Gioffredo. The bus took about 10 minutes to get there. The route goes up quite steep hill and the stop before is called Victoria, and is almost opposite the Regina Building, a large white building on your left as you go up the hill. The museum bus stop is called Matisse / Arènes. Just passed the bus stop on the right is the entrance to the park, with a single step through a gate into the park. On the gate is a blue sign with a wheelchair user symbol, an arrow pointing left and wording saying that the PMR (People with mobility restrictions) is 100m away, see photo. Following the sign and walking round the corner to the other entrance, which is step free and also gated. While there is a sign on this gate to the Matisse Museum there is no information here about an accessible entrance, see photo.

Access

The Museum has two entrances. The main entrance involves stairs which takes you to Level 0 and there is a step free entrance at the rear of the red villa, with automatic doors which takes you to Level 2. The museum is on 4 floors. There is a platform lift between levels O and 1, which requires a museum of staff to operate it. Then a regular lift between Levels 1, 2 and 3. After going through the PMR (People with mobility restrictions) park entrance the Matisse Museum entrance was on the right, see photo. The main entrance to the museum is down a flight of 20 - 25 stairs with handrails on one or both sides, see photo. Sorry I didn't count them but I was concentrating getting down them without falling. At the top of the stairs is the sign for the Matisse Museum and in small print is a wheelchair user sign and text in French, English and Italian saying that disabled access is limited to the back of the red villa. From the top of the stairs the red villa is visible, see photo. There are some further signs, see photos. When you are facing the red villa follow the signs to the left to the back of the villa, where you will find a step free entrance with a small permanent ramp in front, see photo. When I visited I went down the stairs and exited by the step free entrance. I don't know how easy it would be to gain admission through the step free entrance with automatic doors, as it has to be unlocked for me to exit and when I exited In could see no bell to ring if you required admission. Also while I was there I only saw one room steward on the 2nd floor, which is where the accessible entrance/exit is, who was covering the entire floor so I don't know how easy it would be to make yourself known if you wanted admission via the accessible entrance. Going back to my visit. I entered via the stairs at Level 0 which is the main entrance. There were was a manual door at level 0, which I found quite hard to open. Immediately entering there is security and then a couple of steps down, without a handrail, to the gallery floor. There was a ticket desk at standing height. Once I got to the ticket desk the rest of my visit was step free. There was a platform lift, which needed to be unlocked by a member of staff before I could use it. The member of staff then had to walk up to Level 1 to unlock the door to enable me to exit the lift. While this enabled me to avoid the stairs up to Level 1, I personally did not like this, as I could not independently travel between floors. There was a regular lift between Levels 1 and 3 which is self operated and quite large. On each floor there is limited seating, both chaise lounge and sofa style, see photo. I sat on one of the sofas and assumed that as it was leather it would be quite firm. I immediately sank into the cushion and I was unable to stand up unaided (thank you to the kind gentleman who assisted me). I saw one hard chair, which I think was for the room steward, which I also used. The lack of seating was a significant problem for me. It meant that I had to reduce the amount of time I spent at the museum as I was finding it difficult to stand for such long periods of time. There were some video/ film footage to watch but this did not have any sound on.

Toilets

There was an accessible toilet on Level 1, next to other toilets. The accessible toilet was spacious, it had a single grab rail, space under the sink and no emergency cord, see photo. It was clean.

Staff

When I arrived via Level 0 the person on security advised me that there was a lift to Level 1 and I just needed to ask for it at reception. When I asked at reception the member of staff said that there was only a lift from Levels 1 to 3. It was only when I informed her that I had been told by the security member of staff about the lift on Level 0 that she arranged for a member of staff to escort me to the lift. It was this member of staff's behaviour which made me mark down the staff score, as with my crutch it was obvious I have a mobility impairment and I felt she could have been more helpful. Although I don't speak French very well, she understood I was asking in English about a lift and she should known where the lifts are in the building she works in. It didn't make me feel very welcome. Apart from this the rest of the staff were very helpful. The person who took me on the platform lift climbed the stairs and let me out at Level 1. Likewise when I was on Level 2 and wanted to exit via the step free door, the member of staff, when I found her, was very quick to arrange for me to exit.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

Overall this is a lovely museum. If you like Matisse or modern art you will enjoy this museum. Please don't be put off from going by my review, just be aware of the limitations. I'm really happy to have visited but I would not rush back there, for me the lack of seating really impacted on my enjoyment, as I was in pain standing and walking around, and felt unable to sit down and rest as much as I needed to. However, that is my person experience. Also again it's just my personal perspective, but I didn't like that the accessible entrance was on Level 2, it means that people who require a step free entrance, experience the museum very differently, as we are not starting at the same place as non disabled visitors. Personally the main entrance should be the accessible entrance, so everyone experiences the museum in the same way. The museum is in the middle of the park and where there are plenty of benches to sit on.

Photos