Visit of the Hive City of Artists
La Ruche is a city of artists of Montparnasse, built in 1902 by the sculptor Alfred Boucher using materials and elements from the Universal Exhibition of 1900 and notably the Bordeaux Wine Pavilion designed by Gustave Eiffel. A cosmopolitan project from its inception, La Ruche welcomes artists from all over the world: a first wave with Jewish artists fleeing pogroms: Soutine, Zadkine, Chagall, Krémègne... Then Fernand Léger, Cendrars, Apollinaire, Rebeyrolle, Martial Raysse, Arroyo, Titina Masseli, Klaus Michael Grüber, Bruno Bayen... Created in 1973 by Bernard Anthonioz, Geneviève and René Seydoux while the city was threatened with destruction, the La Ruche-Seydoux Foundation’s mission is to ensure the sustainability of Alfred Boucher’s project: to make La Ruche a living place open to all arts. About forty artists work there today, painters, sculptors, photographers, videographers, scenographers from Iraq, Iran, Greece, the United States, Argentina, including Jean-Michel Alberola, Isabelle Geoffroy-Dechaume, Himat, Ernest Pignon-Ernest, Nelly Maurel, Jean-Jean-MaurelMichel Meurice, Nicky Rieti, etc.