December 3rd was the launch of a show of illustrations by the amazingly talented René Gruau who worked for major fashion and style publications during his long and creative life. There was a big expo of his work in London a couple of years ago and his skill at drawing The …

Whatever next? Plans are in place for a new tourist attraction in Marseille…an underwater museum. Standing in long boring queues to see artworks will be a thing of the past here – visitors just need diving gear to take the plunge 8m down into the Anse des Catalans.

Next year’s theme for the popular son-et-lumiere show at Carrieres de Lumiere at Les Baux de Provence is…‘Bosch, Breughel, Arcimboldo from the fantastic to the wonderful’. ‘This show explores the fantastic and wonderful world painted by the 16th-century artists. The first part of this journey is dedicated to Hieronymus Bosch …

The ‘dig’ being carried out ahead of the redevelopment of the Place de la Madeleine has already yielded results in that skeletons are being exhumed and taken for examination. As expected, there was a 16-18th century cemetery beside the church. The archaeologists are also hoping to find objects. This historical …

Spent an interesting Sunday in Toulon but….have a look at the photo below. It was Sunday, tick It was 11 am, tick …but the gallery was firmly shut! It is so exasperating when this happens after driving all the way from Aix.  I found out, finally, later in the day, …

What is it? The Foundation owns one of the largest collections of paintings, sculptures and graphic works of the 20th century in Europe and shows contemporary artists’ work…and it’s just a 2-hour drive from Aix. Who were the Maeghts? Aimé and Marguerite Maeght who were art dealers and collectors based …

Last week we spent the morning in Grasse, a town I hadn’t visited for years. Of course it’s perfume-central with lots of parfumeries offering free tours and shops with tempting arrays of bottles, sprays, soaps and creams. Plus there’s the Musée International de la Parfumerie which takes visitors through centuries of …

The Musée Regards de Provence does a great job focusing on local artists who haven’t had much national recognition and their latest show, David Dellepiane arts et modernité, is a case in point. Born in 1866 to a Genoese family, Dellepiane came to Marseille aged 9 and was brought up …

It’s suddenly very chilly and autumnal, so warming dishes are very welcome. This recipe is especially so because it makes use of some of the colourful pumpkins that are brightening market stalls in Aix. For this, I used a shiny red potiron, but any sort of squash would work. Serve …

‘Marilyn I Wanna Be Loved By You’ is the new exhibition at Aix’s Caumont Centre-d’Art. Sixty images from top photographers will highlight her career – most of them are from private collections. The narrative will focus on her relationship with photography and ask how they Marilyn and the photographers – …