Villa Carmignac - Fondation Carmignac

A magic place, immersed in nature, with art and gardens that echo the beauty of the island of Porquerolles. From a sculpture garden to a gallery with the likes of Basquiat and Bruce Nauman, plan couple hours of your time to discover every experience as inter-related little worlds of intelligence. Start with the delicious restaurant, then go to the gardens to slowly make your way to the art gallery below ground, they will ask you to be barefoot to feel the art with intimacy. This is a family owned space and it brings you closer to the art, it makes it genuine and approachable, involves all your senses, beyond brain, it's a humble and generous temple to the arts reconnecting you to your inner nature and your inner island. Don't miss it!!!

Any art lover should ensure to visit the foundation at the nearest opportunity . Book a guided tour. Minimum 1h for the indoors collection and 1h in the garden. I recommend booking the outdoor restaurant for lunch. Kind and knowledgeable team that will ensure it’s a unique experience from the entrance. Practical lockers for bags , bike parking area. Slightly overcrowded in July / August with much more relaxed experience from September. Accessible on foot from the port.

What a mind blowing experience this place is! Accessed through an easily overlooked (if it weren’t for the beautiful sign) dusty sidewalk, you get a feeling for the sheer size of this picturesque manor only after a short walk and a free citronnade from a bar stand. Your journey then leads you up to the entrance where you’re asked to take off your shoes in order to activate an additional sense of yours. You then go down a staircase the handrail of which quickly blossoms into a sort of climbing plant expanding all over the ceiling. And thus starts your experience. The art collection inside is staggering and a very interesting mix of contemporary (Richter, Uecker, etc.), some renaissance paintwork (Botticelli) and amazing art from the African continent. On the top floor, a collection under the theme “brave new world revisited” awaits you make sure not to miss the vibrating floor! But this is only the inside. As soon as you’ve reached the end of the collection inside, you access the grounds, a Mediterranean natural reserve, in which a series of sculptures and installations are integrated such that they could as well have just been there for centuries. Make sure to enter every passageway that you come across in order not to miss hidden gems such as the enormous marble eggs by Nils Udo. Also, do not skip any part of the extensive area as you might well miss the “Path of Emotions” by Jeppe Hein, one of my absolute highlights. At the exit you can then enjoy a quick bite and refreshing drinks such as a rose from the vineyards right on the premises. What’s left to say is that this is a very unique experience that is most enjoyable when the weather is cloudless. This is definitely not a “bad weather option”.