A Trip to Provence

We just recently returned from a visit to the south of France. We celebrated Scott’s birthday a la Francaise, spending time in Aix en Provence, Gordes, Arles, Roussillon and Antibes. The scenery, the architecture, the wine, the art was out of this world. It’s hard to summarize a trip like this but I’ll give it my best shot.

We landed in Nice, picked up a rental car and headed straight to Aix en Provence, our home base for most of our trip. We stayed at the beautiful Maison Dauphine, which is right next to the Qatre Dauphine fountain. Our host, Veronique, was gracious, helpful and accommodating. The building dates back to the mid 1600’s and has the most gorgeous windows. There are only three flats in Maison Dauphine, and it gives you the feeling of what it might be like to live in Aix. Veronique delivered fresh bread, yogurt, cheese and butter daily from the local boulangerie, right down the street from our flat.

Typically we woke up every morning, Scott prepared the coffee and we planned our day while enjoying the fresh bread, butter and cheese. Then it was out for a day of adventure, long lunches and walks to see all the sights. We returned home late in the afternoons for a quick shower and rest before venturing back out for dinner.

There were so many favorite moments, but at the top of the list was our trip to Terraine des Peintres (the Field of Painters). This is where Cezanne worked, not too far from his atelier, on so many landscape paintings of Mt Sainte Victoire. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a painting in a museum and wondered what the scene looked like in real life. What did Cezanne see? What captured his interest in such a way that he painted he dozens and dozens of times?

It’s a pretty majestic scene, no doubt. And while we were in Aix we noticed that the mountain looked different not only throughout the day, but it changed every day. Some days it was more purple, other days more blue, and then other times grayish white or light green. Cloudy days, winter days, summer days, it’s an endless source of inspiration. 

To be completely honest, I wasn’t even a big fan of Cezanne’s art until I did a master copy class of his work. I studied his drawings, watercolors and paintings for 9 weeks last year, learned so much about his process and techniques and it completely changed my opinion. I may have said this in an older post, but what fascinates me is that Cezanne’s still lifes are actually upside down landscapes. 

Do you see it? The tablecloth looks like a mountain peak! Isn’t that amazing? 

It’s a short walk downhill from The Field of Painters to Cezanne’s atelier. We were the first to arrive for the tour that morning and I’m glad because I got all choked up when I saw all of the objects that he used in his paintings. The ginger jar, the olive jar, the statue of the little boy, the compote … his umbrellas, his brushes. Everything is all right there. Not replicas, the real things. 

I managed to collect myself enough to get in a quick sketch. It felt important to me to create something in that space surrounded by that energy. I couldn’t feel more grateful for the opportunity to have had this experience. 

We also ventured up to The Luberon region, which was just under 2 hours from Aix. Our first stop was Roussillon, a village atop one of the largest ochre deposits in the world. Artists love using ochre in paintings. Out of the tube it looks like a poopy diaper color, but in paintings it is magical. And there are a variety of shades in yellow, red and brown. Here is my painting of Roussillon that I gave to Scott for his birthday:

I’m planning to do several of these using photographs and sketches from our travels.

I would love to go back to this village at sunset and paint it. Maybe someday ………… :)

The village of Gordes was a quick drive away, back towards Aix, so we stopped in Gordes for lunch.

And we enjoyed the amazing views of red poppies and vineyards all the way back to Aix.

Our next adventure took us to the town of Arles, which is famous thanks to Vincent Van Gogh.

“Starry Night over The Rhône” - Musee D’Orsay

Scott along the banks of The Rhone, where VVG stood and painted this iconic scene

“Cafe Terrace at Night” - Kroller Muller Museum

And here’s how the cafe looks today
We had lunch at the restaurant, just on the other side of the path so we could enjoy the view

There are a lot of street markets in France, and Arles is no exception. I picked up some beautiful blue and yellow patterned linens to bring home as a reminder of our visit.

Couldn’t resist a photo of the back of this lady’s jacket

Arles street market

Meanwhile … back in Aix

We loved walking through the morning markets

Fountaine de la Rotonde on the Cour Mirabeau

Scott with Monsieur Cezanne

The colors!

Musee Granet

I love this painting by Maurice Denis, “La Visite de Cezanne” in Musee Granet
Do you recognize the location of this scene?

ONWARD towards ANTIBES

We left Aix and headed towards Antibes, our last city on our tour of the Côte d’Azur. As we were cruising down the highway I spotted a sign for Musee Bonnard. EXIT!

Bonnard is one of my favorite artists, so this was a detour I couldn’t pass up. The museum is in the small village of Le Cannet. It’s a small museum but filled with many beautiful works. 

Bonnard

Vallotton 

We made it to Antibes in time to have a late lunch of mussels and an Aperol Spritz

Followed by a nice long walk along the water

The Antibes waterfront is filled with yachts, mega-yachts, fishing boats, sailing boats and more. You’ll find every size, shape and color you think of. Although it was cloudy with rain sprinkles while we were there, the city was quite charming.

The picturesque streets and shops of Antibes

View from our balcony
You can see the super yacht “Al Raya” in the background

I read that there are 7 Michelin Star restaurants in Antibes. We only tried one of them, and it was outstanding. We sat downstairs in the wine cave of L’Arazur. Soooo good!

 

While we were in Antibes we visited the Musee Picasso, walked around the village of Juan Les Pines and explored the squares, shops and markets.

I took my sketchbook EVERYWHERE! I sketched landscapes, cafes, fountains, people, interiors, windows, winding streets, produce … you name it, I sketched it. I didn’t want to forget a single moment of this trip. 

A few notes: 

1. Driving in France: they drive on the same side of the road as we do in the US. There are tolls all along the major highways, so google how to navigate the toll roads. My best suggestion is to have plenty of Euros on hand and pay in cash versus a credit card. You’ll find plenty of info online about how to navigate. There are also very few stop signs and a boatload of roundabouts. Google that one, too.

2. I was quite surprised that I only saw one other person sketching (an American!). Aix is a plein air painters dream, and I didn’t see a single person painting. I was sort of hoping to come across a local painter or a vendor in one of the markets selling a watercolor or gouache … nope! Not a single one!

3. The more French you know, the easier the trip will be. I should have studied more, but I’m working on that for our next visit. At the very least, make sure you greet locals with Bonjour (good morning/good day) or Bonsoir (good evening).

4. Most of the restaurants serve Italian food. We saw a lot of pizza and burgers on the menus. We opted for more of a Provençal style: fresh tomatoes, basil, salads, prosciutto, tartare, mussels, beef, fish and potatoes. 

5. Prepare to walk a lot! 

6. We were required to take a Covid test 24 hours before boarding our flight home. The pharmacy in Antibes handled it for us very quickly and we had our results via email in 30 minutes. You can upload those results to your flight app before checking in. 

If you have any questions about what we saw, where we stayed, etc, please don’t hesitate to ask. And stay tuned for all of the paintings inspired by this trip!

Au revoir, France! A bientot!