Jean Cocteau's Menton – the wedding hall, the Bastion and a disputed collection

In 1957, Jean Cocteau came to Menton to paint the town's wedding hall and caught sight of an old fortress by the harbour. This is Cocteau's Menton – from the frescoes in the town hall to the museum building that the storm of 2018 closed.

At the old harbour in Menton stands a small stone fortress by the water. This is the Bastion, and it is here that one begins if one wants to understand Jean Cocteau's ties to the town. Cocteau came here for a commission at the town hall and left behind both a wedding hall and a museum that he himself helped to shape.

The wedding hall in the town hall, 1957–1958

Between 1957 and 1958, Cocteau painted the walls and ceiling of the wedding hall in Menton's town hall. The frescoes depict Menton's lovers together with the mythological figures he returned to time and again, such as Orpheus, Eurydice and the centaurs, according to the Côte d'Azur tourist board. Behind the mayor's desk is the fresco Le couple mentonnais, and red drapes lend the room a certain theatricality. After completing the work, Cocteau became an honorary citizen of Menton, and the hall is still used for weddings today.

The region's tourist board describes the style as the Menton style: coloured chalks forming abstract patterns mixed with figures, with nods to ancient Greek art.

The Bastion – the fortress that became a testament

When Cocteau was in Menton for the wedding hall, he took a liking to the Bastion, a small fortress built in 1619. According to Wikipedia, the mayor offered in September 1957 to let him turn it into a museum. Cocteau took part in the work himself, and the region's tourist board calls the museum a testamentary work.

Cocteau died in 1963. Three years later, in 1966, the museum in the Bastion opened with a core collection of 102 works. After the storm in 2018, some of the exhibitions were moved here, and in 2023 the exhibition Le Château des Mystères was shown in the fortress.

Séverin Wunderman and Ricciotti's museum

The American collector Séverin Wunderman began collecting Cocteau when he was 19 and had his own Cocteau museum in Irvine, California. In 2005, his donation was merged with Menton's collection, which thus grew to more than 2,000 works, according to the region's tourist board. In December 2003, the town council decided to build a new museum, and the architect Rudy Ricciotti won the competition in 2008. The museum was inaugurated on 6 November 2011, with 2,700 square metres of exhibition space.

The storm of 2018 and the battle over the collection

During the night of 29 to 30 October 2018, Menton was hit by a severe storm. The basement of the Ricciotti building was flooded with seawater and the ground floor was partially flooded, damaging works that were stored in the basement. The museum was closed. The region's tourist office still states that the Wunderman building is temporarily closed and is expected to reopen.

The collection has also been controversial. According to Wikipedia, the expert Annie Guédras identified at least three dozen forgeries or copies, which the museum later withdrew. On 11 July 2025, the Wunderman Foundation asked the Menton town council to return 1,800 donated works.

How to visit Cocteau's Menton today

Start at the town hall on a weekday morning, when the wedding hall is open, and then head down to the harbour and the Bastion. The town's heritage department also organises a monthly guided tour on the theme of Menton and Jean Cocteau. Combine this with the gardens of Val Rahmeh and Serre de la Madone, book a table at Mirazur, and read our guide to Monaco if you continue along the coast. More destinations can be found among our Riviera guides at metromode.co.

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