The Bay At Nice

David Hare’s The Bay At Nice, written during the cold war in 1986, continues to probe relevant issues relating to freedom and the search for one’s rights within of the dictates of government, marriage, gender, social-class and art.

Set in 1956, three years after Stalin’s death, The Bay At Nice tells the story of Bohemian artist Valentina Nrovka, who is summoned to Leningrad’s Hermitage-former residence of Russia’s royalty and home to Russia’s extensive art collection-to determine the authenticity of a painting believed to be painted by the great French fauvist painter Henri Matisse. Valentina, a former student and lover of Matisse, questions the validity of the painting, her decision to return to Russia with her illegitimate daughter in 1921, and whether art can exist in a society that doesn’t value, recognize or place financial worth on its creation.