On the occasion of the 2025 Biennale of Arts and the Ocean, the Masséna Museum presents the exhibition “Nice, from the Shore to the Sea,” a rich and documented heritage journey tracing the intimate and evolving relationship of the city with its coastline. From antiquity to modernity, from merchant ports to luxurious beaches.
The exhibition opens with the maritime origins of Nice. Founded by the Greeks of Phocaea in the 4th century BCE. Through ancient maps, archival documents, and crafts, visitors discover the various uses of the sea. Initially seen as a place for exchanges, migrations, and conquests, then for nutrition through fishing and for tourism purposes. The Lympia port, still active today, appears as a central pivot for the commercial and military development of the city over the centuries.
From a Nice village to the Riviera
The exhibition dedicates a large section to the transformation of the Nice shoreline in the 19th century, with the rise of seaside tourism. Period advertising posters and objects of social life evoke the birth of the Promenade des Anglais and the arrival of European elites. Notably English and Russian, who made Nice a popular winter destination. The sea then becomes a place of calm, peace, a spectacle to behold, and above all a symbol of elegance.
The exhibition is not limited to a historical perspective. It also questions the way the sea still shapes the identity of Nice today. Through contemporary documents, archival films, and a series of audio testimonies. A reflection on the vulnerability of the coast facing erosion, rising waters, and the impact of mass tourism. The sea is no longer seen solely as a heritage, but as a living space to be protected.
An Exhibition Between Memory and Awareness
The exhibition “Nice, from the Shore to the Sea” successfully evokes history with a contemporary view. It combines rare objects and interactive installations to engage all audiences. It also features an immersive room projecting the transformations of the Nice shoreline over the past century. The artist and photographer Bruno Bébert is also part of the exhibition. Indeed, his famous photograph of a wave, located in front of the Negresco hotel in Nice in 2011 during a stormy day, is featured.
This exhibition is a chapter of Nice’s history that resurfaces within the walls of the Belle Époque villa. It stands as an essential component of the 2025 Biennale. Merging local history with major international environmental issues, reaffirming Nice’s maritime roots.
