The Niel Museum
Avant-garde sea viewDiving into contemporary art
Since 2023, the Port du Niel on the Giens peninsula has been a new landmark on the Var art trail. This magnificent little coastal shelter, immortalized in Luc Besson‘s Le Grand Bleu, now boasts another marvel: a collection of works dedicated to the forms of artistic expression of the second half of the 20th century, notably non-figuration and abstraction in post-war France. Visit the Musée du Niel, its private collections and enjoy the magnificent view from the terrace.
5 good reasons to come
- Discover Jean-Noël Drouin’s collection of paintings
- Feel the power of key 20th-century artists
- Admire the architecture of the building and its Mediterranean garden
- Terrace view of Porquerolles and Port du Niel
- Eat at the museum food truck
Two avant-gardes
After the enormous success of its first year in 2023, with a temporary exhibition featuring seventeen French non-figurative painters in dialogue with Jean Grenier, a collaboration between curator Antoine Villeneuve, scenographer Eric Morin and artistic director Françoise Oppermann is proposed for 2024. Entitled Two avant-gardesit presents the Nouvelle école de Paris and Supports/surfaces, which bear witness to the French creative reality of the second half of the 20th century.
Our advice
The Musée du Niel’s seaside site has limited parking space.
There are several ways to get there with complete peace of mind:
You can choose to walk or cycle from the center of the village of Giens.
In July and August, a free shuttle bus runs from 11am to 12:45pm and from 4pm to 9pm from the village parking lot at the top of chemin de la Plage in Giens to the Musée du Niel.
The museum and garden are accessible to people with reduced mobility.
Please call 04 94 91 74 22 to reserve your parking space.
The origins of the museum
The Musée du Niel is housed in a villa built in 1962 in the Port du Niel. Built with real boldness and architectural modernity, on three floors, the building is set with protruding balconies that point towards the horizon, like a boat on the sea.
Inside, the 300m² space is punctuated by alternating half-level floors, enhanced by vast openings. The result is strikingly light, magnifying the rare and touching works. Let yourself be carried away by this new museum that honors the renewal of contemporary creation. A total success.
Innovators and forerunners
The museum’s ambition is to give visitors a sense of the visual shock inspired by the gestures and light of the works on display.
The idea is to enable all visitors, even the very youngest, to regain confidence in their intuition and emotion.
Part of the Réseau Plein Sud, a network of cultural and artistic sites in the south of France, the museum highlights the innovative post-war artistic trends that continue to influence contemporary art today.
Following in the footsteps of the Fondation Carmignac, the Villa Noailles and the Musée de La Banque, the Musée du Niel completes Hyero’s cultural offering, making it a major site in the Var.
Painting often opens unexpected windows. I wanted to show works from a particularly liberating period in art history. The artists in the Musée du Niel collection had the audacity to offer a new vision of the world after the chaos of the Second World War. I hope that this impetus will be felt by a younger generation, sometimes battered in turn by crises. Our museum would like to offer them a breathing space, as well as inspiration.
- Jean-Noël Drouinmuseum founder
INTERVIEW
Florence Denis
In 2020, Jean-Noël Drouin fell in love with the Port du Niel, and more specifically with an atypical villa. Its characteristic sixties architecture, its magical location on the water and its interior volumes made it possible to exhibit the works in the collection in the best possible conditions. The Musée du Niel thus came into being in June 2023, after the site had been completely refurbished, our teams put together and the programming implemented.
In the heart of the Port Cros National Park, we want to offer our visitors a new artistic experience. Discovering major works of 20th-century art history in intimate spaces, listening to music, drawing, writing in the museum, savoring the exceptional surrounding nature and the local life of Giens, this is the pleasure of discovering our territory between culture, art and the sea.
How to get here ?
By car
From the town center, follow signs for “Tour Fondue, Giens”.
A few parking spaces are available on the way down to Le Niel, but they are limited.
The easiest way is to park in the free parking lot in the village of Giens (140 spaces), and then walk down to Le Niel along a lovely footpath through the village and its stores.
By bus
The village of Giens is served by Mistral lines 67 and 68.
You can walk down to the port du Niel and the museum.
A summer shuttle service is also available.
Little train
A free little train starts its journey from the north parking lot of Almanarre beach and takes you to the village of Giens via the beaches of the Route du Sel (in July and August).