MOUGINS.- FAMM (Female Artists of the Mougins Museum), the world’s first museum outside the USA with a permanent collection dedicated to women artists, founded by the philanthropist and collector Christian Levett and situated in the heart of the historic village of Mougins between Cannes and Nice, is completely renewing its permanent collection exhibition.
Previously spanning from Impressionism to contemporary, the museum’s journey through art history now begins earlier, with the Baroque period. The museum will feature an exceptional work over two metres tall, dating from c. 1649 -50, created by the pioneering artist: Artemisia Gentileschi, now regarded as an icon of feminist art history.
The exhibition then continues with the Impressionists. Visitors will encounter the key figures of the impressionist movement, such as Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassat, Marie Bracquemond and Eva Gonzales, before delving into dreamscapes of Surrealism. Leonora Carrington, Jane Graverol, Mimi Parent, Marion Adnams and Sofía Bassi can be found in this gallery alongside the Italian-Argentine artist Leonor Fini, known for her powerful, enigmatic and subversive female figures which overturn traditional codes of representation.
The artist’s latest auction record "Dans la tour", an oil on canvas from 1952, was acquired by The Levett Collection/FAMM in November 2025, and forms an exciting addition in the rehang of the museum.
On the first floor, visitors are introduced to abstraction, through the work of American artists such as Sonia Gechtoff, Pat Passlof, Ethel Schwabacher, Miriam Schapiro, Michael Corinne West and Perle Fine. Working in New York in the 1950s and 60s, these women were in the same circles as the movement’s leading male figures such as Jackson Pollock and Marc Rothko, and yet their names did not achieve lasting renown. An opportunity now presents itself to discover these talented artists at FAMM. Also worth noting is Emmi Whitehorse, whose work merits close attention: her abstract practice, rooted in her Navajo heritage, engages with this movement whilst maintaining a distinct uniqueness. Bringing this first floor into the present day are contemporary artists Kirsty Chan and Woo Min Jung, who demonstrate the clear influence of the of the post-war “Abex” movement on the current art scene.
Among the recent acquisitions on display to the public in this gallery, is 1970 oil painting by the Finnish artist Iria Leino, whose career fascinates many. A model for Balmain, Dior and Cardin, she gave it all up for painting, and moved to New York in 1964 , where she developed an abstract style with acrylics that caught the attention of the famous gallery owner Leo Castelli. The work on display at FAMM belongs to her series “Buddhist Rain” (1968-1972), in which the artist developed a meditative approach to abstraction, pouring acrylic directly onto raw canvas gesturing both a precise and contemplative practice.
The third gallery explores the theme of the body, self-portraiture and the depiction of femininity by women. It features three works by Leonor Fini, including the golden horned headdress she liked to adorn herself with, and two paintings, one of which being “Self-Portrait with Stanislao Lepri” (1942-43), portraying Fini and her life partner, the Italian painter Stanislao Lepri.
In this same gallery, we see a particularly powerful juxtaposition: Carolee Schneemann’s “Hand-Heart for Ana Mendieta” 1986 in dialogue with an original work by Ana Mendieta, “Untitled”, dated 1973. The former was a tribute to Mendieta, a friend of Schneemann who had died the year before under mysterious circumstances which were never truly resolved. Exiled from Cuba to the USA as a child, Mendieta is known for her “Siluetas”, a process in which she imprints her silhouette in earth, fire or blood, staging a direct fusion between female body and landscape.
Among others, Hannah Höch, Françoise Gilot, Elaine de Kooning, Alison Watt, Suzanne Fabry, Barbara Tate and Sabine Monirys complete this exhibition, alongside emerging artists such as Marianna Simnett et Sofia Ruiz.
A wall of drawings gathers works on paper by Lee Krasner, Alice Neel, Berthe Morisot, Marie Bracquemond, Mercedes Matter and Cecily Brown, while a photograph feature wall includes portraits by Lee Miller, Kati Horna, Bernice Kolko and Dora Maar, reminding us that these women portrayed, documented and supported one another long before institutions took notice.
The exhibition concludes with the 21st-century contemporary gallery with works by Clare Rojas, Anj Smith, Alice Kettle, Candida Höfer, Joana Choumali, Kimathi Mafafo, Rita Maikova, Caroline Absher and Chloe Wise. Several of these works were acquired in 2024 and 2025, confirming FAMM’s commitment to presenting not only art’s history, but also its active continuation.
This rehanging takes place within a particularly interesting period. Several artists featured in the collection are part of major institutional exhibitions in 2026: Leonor Fini at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt followed by Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Tracey Emin at the Tate Modern, Leonora Carrington at the Musée du Luxembourg, Cecily Brown at the Serpentine, Jenny Saville at Ca’ Pesaro in Venice, Frida Kahlo soon at the Tate Modern, and Eva Gonzales soon at the Petit Palais in Paris and then at Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam
Christian Levett, founder of FAMM and collector for nearly thirty years, has supported many of these exhibitions. His collection consists of nearly 2000 works, of which 700 are by women artists. He regularly lends works to the world’s leading museums, from the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taiwan to the Centre Pompidou of Paris, and from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid.
