IMMERSIVE TRIPS BEHIND PAINTINGS

The incredible soft lights of the Mediterranean coast, its juicy colours, and the exuberance of its natural landscapes fascinated and inspired a series of the world’s most renowned artists who once wandered through the little villages of the French Riviera…

Picasso, Rodin, Matisse, Modigliani, Chagall, van Gogh and many other world’s greatest modern artists have lived and created here their lifetime masterpieces…

An immersive trip to follow the inspired footsteps of famous artists and get impregnated by the southern flavours of the C?te d’Azur…

Ready? So let’s take off!

Impressionists Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir eased the world into Modernism with their treatment of light; Raoul Dufy, Pierre Bonnard and Paul Signac carried the torch decades later. Both Paul Cézanne, a native Aixois, and Vincent van Gogh endlessly depicted sun-kissed Proven?al landscapes. Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse both settled here, and Jean Cocteau spent much of his life on the C?te d'Azur, creating his own museum in Menton. The French Riviera is an inspiration burst and a bouquet of sensory adventures for all creative souls, so get ready to embark on the other side of your favourite impressionistic paintings!

NICE OF MATISSE

In 1917, Henri Matisse arrived in Nice. He falls in love with the Riviera capital and its "crystalline, limpid" light…

Matisse bequeathed the city a vast collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings, paper cutouts, and illustrated books. You will find in his museum the conic Nu Bleu IV (Blue Nude IV) and locally inspired Tempête à Nice (Nice in Storm). Enjoy a memorable guided tour about the artist’s life & art, discover the techniques of Matisse papercuts in practice during a workshop with a scissor-cutting sculptor and leave with your own souvenir!

Nice is also home to Marc Chagall museum. He bequeathed the town paintings as well as sculptures, a mosaic, and three huge stained-glass windows. Le Corbusier's disciple André Hermant designed the building. It's one of the world's most important Chagall collections!

Enjoy a visit with a passionate curator who got to know Chagall in person and who will reveal the mystery behind Chagall’s symbols in connection to his life story.

ST PAUL DE VENCE: THE LOUVRE OF LA COTE D’AZUR

This fortified medieval settlement - presiding over the Vence countryside amid orange and olive trees, is one of the most visited villages perchés in France. It was rediscovered by painters such as Amedeo Modigliani, Pierre Bonnard, Chaim Soutine, and Paul Signac in the 1920s. Since then, hundreds of artists have followed suit, along with serious art dealers whose boutiques and galleries flank the narrow, often teeming cobblestone streets. Feel the town’s artistic vibrations and have dinner at the most unusual Art Gallery in the area.

Maeght Foundation

Marguerite and Aimé Maeght were art dealers in Cannes who hobnobbed with Chagall, Matisse, and Joan Miró. A labyrinth displays sculpture and ceramics by Miró, and the chapel has a spectacular stained glass signed by Georges Braque and Raoul Ubac.

What about a private picnic in the courtyard, surrounded by marble statues of Miró and mosaics by Chagall, for a surrealistic Plein Air experience?

Have a tea with Matisse and Picasso… 

Just like La Rotonde in Paris, La Colombe d'Or was a place for the creative elite of the 20th century, where some of the greatest names in modern art stayed and created their masterpieces…Fernand Léger installs here a colourful ceramic on the terrace, followed by Miro, Braque, Chagall, Picasso, succeeded by Calder, Caesar, and others, all of them leaving their artworks as a complete part of the house.

An unforgettable lunch with an astonishing view with our art-historian lecturer, who will unveil some of the artist’s most vibrant life secrets! Matisse, Picasso or Renoir in person might join you for a cup of tea!

On the way back, stop for a short break at the Chapelle du Rosaire in Vence. Matisse designed it as a gift to the Dominican nuns who cared for him during the last years of his life. He called the chapel his "masterpiece, despite all its imperfections." It is his complete and final work - arguably the most exquisite piece of 20th-century art on the Riviera.

CAGNES-SUR-MER OF RENOIR

Renoir deemed the perched old town of Cagnes-sur-Mer "the place where I want to paint until the last day of my life." He got his wish in 1919, when he died in his family home, Les Collettes - today's Musée Renoir, leaving a still life behind to dry. Les Collettes' house and olive groves have been restored to look as they did when Renoir lived here. You can explore the drawing-room and the dining room on your own before going up to the artist's atelier with his wheelchair, easel, and brushes.

Enjoy a session in Plein Air with a local painter, who will show you in practice the oil-painting technique of Renoir, keeping the spontaneity of the first impression. In the middle of Renoir’s gardens, what can be a more inspiring Plein Air paysage?

 ANTIBES OF PICASSO

Antibes inspired many writers in the nineteenth century, like George Sand, Gustave Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant or Jules Verne. Then of course painters, like Raoul Dufy or Claude Monet…In the 1920s came American writers: F. Scott Fitzgerald (who organized here with his wife, Zelda, wild parties), John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway. Later also succumbed to the charms of the city Louis Aragon, Jean Cocteau, Jacques Prévert, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall and Nicolas de Stael.

This unpretentious port town with a bustling covered market is home to the Chateau Grimaldi, once the palace of the Grimaldi princes of Antibes, who ruled from 1385 to 1608. Nowadays, the castle shelters the world-class Musée Picasso.

When Picasso came to town after the war, he stayed in a small hotel at Golfe-Juan until the museum director at Antibes invited him to work and live at the museum. He spent the year 1946 painting here, and, upon his departure, donated all the work he'd created: paintings, ceramics, drawings, lithographs, oils on paper, sculptures, and tapestries. In addition, a contemporary art gallery exhibits Léger, Miró, Ernst, and Calder.

Alongside his partner, Fran?oise Gilot, and their two children, Claude and Paloma, Picasso lives surrounded by artists and friends poets, such as Jacques Prévert, Paul Eluard, Louis Aragon, Jean Cocteau or Pierre Reverdy. This closeness to poets gave rise to the creation of major works – correspondences, tributes in form of poems or portraits, illustrated books.

We will take you for a walk through the old Antibes and will tell you more about Picasso’s original collaborations and friendships with writers and poets. Finally, you can end your night at the famous Absinthe Museum and why not, have a drink with Van Gogh?

A WALK THROUGH VALLAURIS

The tacky ceramics capital of the Riviera still attracts lovers of pottery and Picasso with its three-in-one Musée National de Picasso, Musée Magnelli, and Musée de la Céramique, in the village castle. Picasso lived in Vallauris from 1948 to 1955 and created some 4,000 ceramic pieces. He also decorated a rough stone chapel with two fabulous contrasting paintings: La Paix (Peace) and La Guerre (War). One floor houses a museum devoted to Abstract Art pioneer Alberto Magnelli; more Picasso ceramics, plus works by regional potters, are on another floor. In the main square, look out for Picasso's sculpture L'Homme au Mouton (Man with Sheep), which he created in just one afternoon.

PARTY BREAK IN A RETRO STYLE

It was in Crémat Castle that the Bellet appellation was created in 1941. Born of the whims of Irene Bretz, a rich and extravagant American, the place was once a madness of rococo times and parties in the style of Gatsby the Magnificent! Queen of the nights, Irene invited here all the beautiful society of the Riviera, including Coco Chanel! The Barons of Bellet, whose title of nobility was granted in 1777 by the King of the Sardinian States, established their property on the upper part of Nice. This family, originating from Savoie, gave its name to the appellation, which celebrates this year its 80th anniversary!

Discover the vineyards surrounding the Chapel and the unusual wine cellar, which is partially underground and semi-circular in shape, conceived for the great wines of the Chateau de Bellet. Visit the Chapel with an intimate tasting inside the secret crypt…

 SAINT TROPEZ OF SIGNAC

The first to be seduced was Maupassant, in 1888. The second, Paul Signac, left a major trace: he made the port asleep the capital of the neo-impressionists and welcomed Matisse, Dufy, Bonnard or Manguin. Very quickly, the peninsula attracts artists in the broad sense. With Colette, installed in 1925 on the Canoubiers Bay, come Kessel, Saint-Exupery, Guitry, Cocteau, Jouvet ... Marlene Dietrich and Hemingway succeed Sartre and Beauvoir, Boris Vian, Fran?oise Sagan.

Post-Impressionist painter Paul Signac fell in love with St-Tropez, capturing Riviera's light in many of his artworks. He was taking many young artists under his tutelage, welcoming none other than a young Henri Matisse into his home in Saint Tropez 1904. In fact, Signac was the first owner of Matisse’s work, seeing the artist’s great potential. The Musée de l'Annonciade opened in 1955 within a 16th-century chapel on the old port, Signac's works, along with other striking Post-Impressionist pieces.

AIX-EN-PROVENCE OF PAUL CéZANNE 

Cézanne was a law student at his father's behest, but his real love was painting the countryside around Aix. Gradually he found recognition and friends among the circle of Impressionist painters in Paris. After outgrowing Impressionism, he began to juxtapose large patches of colour in new ways and exaggerate lines and relief. His most prolific works were inspired by Aix's outlying landscape, particularly the Montagne St-Victoire, visible from the town. Today, visitors can see Cézanne's atelier as he left it when he died. Discover the intimate place of Cézanne’s creation…

In 1901, Paul Cézanne bought a land overlooking Aix, at the Chemin des Lauves, to build his studio. Opened to the public since 1954, the Lauves studio is much more than a museum: a fairytale garden, familiar objects - tools, models of still life, and of course the recognizable light plunge visitors into Cézanne’s paintings! Ten-minute walk from Cézanne’s atelier, Chemin de la Marguerite on the Lauves hill in Aix en Provence is a belvedere, built as a promenade since 2004.

A symbolical meeting point with Cézanne specialist, who will take you on a journey through the artist’s life in Provence: a paradise for walkers, climbers and nature lovers, visiting the major natural sites of Provence which Cézanne depicted in his paintings.

MENTON OF COCTEAU

Parisian-born artist, dramatist, and surrealist filmmaker Jean Cocteau was a big fan of Menton and left the town an important legacy. Jean Cocteau museum was a ruined 17th-century fort on the port. The artist himself oversaw all the restoration work, donated his tapestries, set designs and drawings, but then he died before his museum opened in 1967. There is a hidden gem in Menton’s town hall and while official wedding ceremonies take place here, the room is probably better known for the artwork on the walls and ceiling—all done by French artist, poet, author, playwright, and filmmaker, Jean Cocteau (1889–1963). The wedding hall is called “La Salle des marriages-Jean Cocteau Menton”.

Get into the artist’s universe and end the visit with a private cinema evening, a Cocteau’s movie of your choice!

ARLES OF VAN GOGH

In 1888, Vincent van Gogh attempted to overcome his gloomy temperament by settling in sunny Arles. He went on to paint 200 canvases in fewer than 15 months here. It was also in Arles that he notoriously lopped off his ear, after a fight with his fellow artist Paul Gauguin.

The Espace Van Gogh, the Café Van Gogh (the inspiration for Café de Nuit), and the Fondation Van Gogh all pay tribute to the tortured genius, who would die penniless, without recognition, two years later in Provence. Here you will meet a transgenerational expert for a specific analysis of Van Gogh’s family, talking about the links between ancestors and their descendants, then meet Van Gogh’s descendants in person for a family dinner in a dreamlike atmosphere.

 … And there is so much more to explore and discover following in the footsteps of modern artists who left their marks everywhere on the French Riviera. This is the true spirit of this beautiful region: an inspiring voyage to reconnect to Art, Nature, to the true Self, through the rich, impressionistic palette of all senses!

Wander, Taste, Smell, Create with artisans, meet local personalities and get exclusive access to the most thrilling southern settings!

Looking for more inspiration? Check our southern tours and get in touch for a personalized journey to create your own lifetime souvenirs!

Bon Voyage!