Previously published on Ginger and Nutmeg: The Château is certainly iconic in Vauvenargues a small village of barely 1000 people. Pablo Picasso loved the place for the isolation that it provided for his work. After his death, Jacqueline proposed that the castle become a museum, the village never approved the …

I have to hand it to the Musée Regards de Provence seems to keep finding interesting local artists to introduce to us all. This time, André Maire (1898-1984) was an inveterate traveller. He was very curious about people, civilizations and religions, and painted his impressions as he went. …Continue reading …

Now that I’ve seen the movie “Loving Van Gogh” — in French no less, with no subtitles — I remember my first visit to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. I started my quest for Vincent Van Gogh’s trail in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence early on a beautiful, sunny morning. Temperatures were in the high 70’s, and a …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: ‘Cézanne at Home’ and a retrospective of the painter Tal Coat have recently opened at the Musée Granet, both worth a visit. ‘No painting by Cézanne will ever enter this museum’, proclaimed Henri Pontier who was curator in 1900.His attitude is made even worse by …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: This is a huge celebration of the linkages between Pablo Picasso and the Mediterranean region with exhibitions already organised in Naples, Rabat, Malaga, Perpignan, Venice, and lots in the pipeline. Here in Provence, these are the forthcoming exhibitions in the programme: Picasso et Maitres Espagnol Carrieres …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: As the current annual son-et-lumiere show at the Carrieres de Lumieres in Les Baux de Provence draws to a close, (Bosch, Breughel, Arcimboldo ends Jan 7th, it’s always interesting to see what is next on the agenda. And the theme for 2018 is…Picasso et les Maitres …

There were just a few paintings still to hang when I left Lourmarin in late September. Before departing—and two days before the opening–I popped by to see Jacqueline Bricard, proprietor of the naïf art gallery bearing her name and curator of the “Regard Naïf Européen” exhibition. She was in the …

I’ve just been to a wonderful exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. It was called Matisse in the Studio, and it shows how the objects that Matisse surrounded himself with appeared in his art. Henri Matisse was a collector: He had an array of vases, chairs, carpets, furniture, …

One trail always leads to another…and so my discovery that the cookery writer Elizabeth David lived for some months in a large house in Ménerbes far more associated with another famous name from the 1950s inevitably made me want out find out more about the artist Nicolas de Staël. Who …

At first glance, one might think nothing much has changed at Ateliers Fourwinds since my last visit four years ago. Which, is exactly what the new partners want for this artistic workshop (atelier) space with its natural vistas of the Alpilles. Their desire was to breathe new artistic energy into this …