Organised by the
Palace of Monaco Archive and the Audiovisual Institute of Monaco for the 90th
anniversary of Grace Kelly’s birth, this original new exhibition will place her
first meeting with Prince Rainier III of Monaco in context and perspective.From Tuesday 14 May to Tuesday 15 October 2019, The State Apartments of the Prince's Palace
After winning the
Academy Award for Best Actress in March 1955 for her role in The Country Girl, Grace Kelly had been
on the French Riviera the previous year to shoot Alfred Hitchcock’s film To Catch a Thief, which features an
unforgettable scene on the heights of the Principality.
As guest star at the
8th Cannes Film Festival, Grace Kelly agreed to change her schedule for a last-minute meeting with the Prince of Monaco
on the afternoon of 6 May 1955. Organised by Pierre Galante, journalist with Paris Match, this meeting, which almost
never happened, was immortalised by Michel Simon, photographer for the
magazine, and the Irish photographer Edward Quinn, who had long been working on
the Riviera.
The photographs by
these two privileged witnesses will be displayed together for the very first
time. Whether carefully posed or taken on the fly, these snapshots of different
formats attest to the interest and high technical and artistic quality of press
photographers’ work.
Designed as a
photographic tour through the Palace State rooms, this exhibition follows in
Grace Kelly’s footsteps in the very places where she met Prince Rainier, around
the dress she wore that day, along with personal items, letters, testimonials,
newspaper clips and film excerpts. All this documentation shows how the
reportage, which went virtually unnoticed at the time, became legend, with its
memories and anecdotes.
Less than a year after
this brief but decisive meeting, Prince Rainier III married Grace Patricia
Kelly, on 18 and 19 April 1956 in Monaco.
Monaco, 6 May 1955. The Story of a Meeting
Curators: Thomas Fouilleron & Vincent
Vatrican
Palace of Monaco
Place
du Palais – Monaco
Tour of the State rooms
14 May - 15 October 2019