Difficult to find one photo which conveys why this museum is so nice - the inside has a pleasant collection of Matisse paintings, sculptures and collages, but it's the location which is lovely. It's in the Cimiez district of Nice, up on a hill away from the centre of the city. The Museum stands next to an olive grove:
which is popular for dog-walking and picnics, and some interesting Roman remains including an arena where the Jazz festival is held each year. Not far away is a monastery which has beautiful gardens. It's altogether a very good tranquil place to be (well, not so tranquil during the Jazz Festival).
A couple of the Matisse paintings with characteristic use of colour:
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12 comments:
Here's a legend playing among the olive trees.
Wow this looks a beautiful place Zeph and the museum looks very interesting - the building sort of looks colonial, but then I'm hopeless at architecture and historical stuff. Would this be the same olive grove where a certain treble clef was found lurking some months ago?
1:37 minutes of BB King and no Lucille? Hamlet without the prince, surely.
Great-looking place, though, Zeph. Will go straight there the next time I'm swanning around in the south of France...
Pink, the treble clef was along the coast at Menton, in another olive grove, not all that far away.
I expect it's the shutters which make you think of colonial buildings. If you look closely (click on the large pic) you can see that all the twiddles round the windows are painted on, it's a tradition in those parts.
Sorry Ringo - that was the best clip of BB from the Jazz Festival but Lucille is silent. Never mind, try this one where she features quite a bit (though not in Nice)
Another Fauverite Place?
Je vais prendre mon manteau.
mort de rire, MM!
Looks beautiful, peaceful and gorgeous. A bit of balm for the soul.
I'm sure it's a very nice museum, and the olive trees look exquisitely gnarled and would make good logs for a fire. But, you know, those windows on the first floor are wrong. There are four of them, and there should be five. You have one curly topped window and then a tringular topped, and then the same again. it is not architecturally balanced. This is not a serious complaint, and I would not have the building pulled down. But the builder has some serious questions to answer.
Freep, the trompe l'oeil painter has questions to answer, then. Got all carried away being Italianate and forgot about French classical balance.
merci madame Zeph c'est si beau
Matisse en agite son pinceau
I've never been to the Matisse Museum, but I don't think there's an Other Stuff thread on which I haven't commented.
It's a fabulous spot. Pity that the Matisse Museum holds so few of his best works.
But there's so much else to see up there in Cimiez. The place is alive with history. I love the monastery gardens nearby, in all their formality and tranquility, with views over the city and out onto the Baie. The monastery church contains one of Ludovic Bréa's most beautiful rétables, too ... don't miss 'em when you return!
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