Cote d’Azur - The Official Art Trail
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With its brilliant light and exquisite villages, it’s no wonder so many great artists have been drawn to the French Riviera. Renoir and Monet were there first, followed by Picasso, Matisse, Chagall and a whole host of amateurs and professionals.
Now an official Painters of the Cote d’Azur itinerary is helping art-lovers follow their trail. The route starts in Antibes-Juan-les-Pins, described by Graham Greene as “the only town on the Riviera that has known how to keep its soul.” Perhaps that’s because charming yet frenetic Juan-les-Pins is balanced by the working harbour town of Antibes just a stroll round the headland from the beautiful pinede - pinewood - that spills onto Juan’s easternmost beaches.
Monet stayed at the Chateau de la Pinede in 1888, painting 36 canvasses in Antibes. Picasso and Matisse followed in the roaring twenties, just as the resort was being discovered by Hemingway, Greene and Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Bonnard, Chagall and the surrealist Man Ray were here too.
This year the Picasso Museum in Antibes, where the artist worked, has recently been reopened after a long renovation. One of the key works put in place has been to restore Picasso’s studio to its original glory.
Picasso-lovers will also want to head west to Vallauris. Here both the artist’s painting and pottery can be viewed. Nearby, at his home village of Mougins, the artist’s life there is documented at an excellent museum of photography.
Another key location is Saint-Paul-de-Vence. You don’t have to be a culture vulture to enjoy its winding, colonnaded streets lined with cafes and galleries. This atmospheric village was home for 20 years to Chagall, one of many modern artists celebrated at the nearby Maeght Foundation. It’s a cornucopia of 20th century art which is one of the region’s most important museums.
Not far away are Cagnes-sur-Mer, with its shrine to Renoir, and Biot, which as well as being the home of a dedicated Leger Museum, is packed with glass and jewellery workshops.
Also worth a visit is the Villa Ephrussi on Cap Ferrat. This magnificent seaside palazzo was built by Baroness Beatrice de Rothschild on the Riviera’s most exclusive peninsula. It has seven themed gardens decked like a cruise liner and is packed with Old Masters, sculptures and objets d’art.
Many of the Riviera’s greatest art draws are in Nice - museums dedicated to Matisse and Chagall and a temple of modern art whose collection includes Warhols and other American greats. Lovers of Old Masters are catered for in the Musee des Beaux Arts.
Picasso Museum
Chateau Grimaldi
Antibes
Tel: +33 4 92 90 54 20, http://www.antibes-juanlespins.com/eng/culture/musees/picasso/index.html
Musee National Picasso La Guerre et la Paix
Place de la Liberation, Vallauris
Tel: +33(0)4 93 64 71 83, www.musees-nationaux-alpesmaritimes.fr
Musee Matisse
164 avenue des Arenes de Cimiez, Nice
Tel: +33(0)4 93 81 08 08, www.musee-matisse-nice.org
Musee National Message Biblique Marc Chagall
Avenue Docteur Menard, Nice
Tel: +33(0)4 93 53 87 20, www.musee-chagall.fr
Musee d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain
Promenade des Art, Nice
Tel: +33 (0)4 97 13 42 01, www.mamac-nice.org
A great place to enjoy Pop Art and American Abstraction as well as the work of the New French Realists and painters of the school of Nice in a spectacular building.
Musee des Beaux Arts
33 avenue des Baumettes, Nice
Tel: +33(0)4 92 15 28 28, www.musee-beaux-arts-nice.org
Beautiful 19th century building housing half a millennium’s worth of painting and sculpture dating back to the 15th century.
The Maeght Foundation
Saint Paul de Vence
Tel: +33(0)4 93 32 81 63, www.fondation-maeght.com
Musee Renoir
Chemin des Collettes, Cagnes-sur-Mer
Musee National Fernand Leger
Chemin du Val de Pome, Biot
+33(0)4 92 91 50 30, www.musee-fernandleger.fr
Villa Ephrussi
St. Jean-cap-Ferrat
Tel: +33(0)4 93 01 33 09, www.villa-ephrussi.com
Useful links
Maeght Foundation
Musee des Beaux Arts
Musee d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain
Musee Fernand Leger
Musee Matisse
Musee National Message Biblique Marc Chagall
Musee National Picasso La Guerre et la Paix
Picasso Museum
Villa Ephrussi
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