« Art is my oxygen » Jeanne Matossian would say, and art was truly the only world in which she could live.

Her friends? The artists. She kept in close touch with many of them, mostly those with whom she felt a harmony of heart and mind and who, like her, attached great importance to their roots, to their freedom of thought and action, and who were inspired by the great master builders of sculpture and painting.

This collection covers mainly the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. It contains nearly 500 works by French artists and foreign artists mostly established in Paris. It provides an extensive panorama of the work of several artists over more than 30 years.

The collection was freely assembled, without any help from advisors, with the objective of eventually being shown to the public. It presents the path of someone in search of spirituality and the breath of life.

Her need to cast light on these works, to make them live as they helped her live, naturally led to the project of a donation.

It is in the same spirit that André Matossian continued his wife’s work after her death in 1987. He established the Jeanne Matossian foundation in December 2001.

Hélène BUGEL
Chairwoman of the Jeanne Matossian foundation