Monaco Art Week opens on 27 April for its eighth edition, running through sto 1st May under the High Patronage of Prince Albert II. After moving away from its original spring calendar in recent years, the event returns to coincide with the Art Monte-Carlo fair at the Grimaldi Forum, concentrating two of the Principality’s most significant cultural moments into a single week.

Fourteen galleries, auction houses and art spaces will participate across several districts, with an opening vernissage on the evening of Monday 27th April from 6pm to 9pm. The programme spans sculpture, painting, jewellery and design, from Renaissance masters to contemporary practice.

Major names, rare works

The edition’s most significant museum-quality presentation comes from Moretti Fine Art, which is showing a rare copper painting by Artemisia Gentileschi — Sleeping Child (1630–1635) — for the duration of the week only. Works by Christo, drawn from the personal collection of his nephew Vladimir Yavachev, are on view at Galerie Adriano Ribolzi, while Sotheby’s is presenting a preview of the Fred Feinsilber collection ahead of its Paris auction in June, with pieces by Giacometti, Picasso, Kandinsky and Victor Brauner among the highlights.

Almine Rech continues its presentation of Irish painter Genieve Figgis — whose Drama Club exhibition opened in mid-April and runs through September — while Opera Gallery dedicates its space to a retrospective survey of designer Ron Arad spanning more than three decades of work. NM Contemporary opens the week with Alphabet Intime, a solo show by Italian artist Alfredo Rapetti Mogol, who is perhaps better known as a lyricist for artists including Laura Pausini, Eros Ramazzotti and Andrea Bocelli.

Auction houses and the street

Artcurial launches the seventh edition of Monaco Sculptures in partnership with the Société des Bains de Mer, placing monumental works from the 20th and 21st centuries across the Principality’s gardens and public spaces — with an auction to follow at the Hôtel Hermitage in July. The Hôtel des Ventes de Monte-Carlo holds its modern and contemporary sale on Thursday 30th April, with works including Giorgio de Chirico, Mario Schifano and Georges Mathieu on view from the opening of the week.

Talks and the market

A full day of conferences takes place on Tuesday 28th April at the Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo. Giovanna Bertazzoni, Chairman of Christie’s Europe, will address a decade of shifts in the art market, while Christy W. Coombs of Sotheby’s leads a discussion on the move from private to corporate collecting. Art dealers Fabrizio Moretti and Helly Nahmad will speak on collecting as inheritance and passion, moderated by Björn Dahlström, Director of the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco.

The week also intersects with the NMNM’s spring exhibition Le Sentiment de la Nature, running at Villa Paloma through 25th May, and two public performances on 29th April connected to that show.

New sponsor Aston Martin joins returning backers EFG Bank (Monaco) and Moravia Yachting for this edition.

Full programme and opening hours: monaco-artweek.com

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Main photo credit: Cassandra Tanti