The colours of the Mediterranean

Posted on November 30, 2014

It’s that time of the year again, the nights are drawing in, it’s getting colder and fairy lights are hung literally everywhere. Perfect time for me to write up the next blog post on my jaunts last month. My holiday where I basked in the heat of the sun, next to the Med and marvelled at the beautiful bright colours around me. (I am finding it helpful to think of such things as I type this, the heating in the room I am sitting in isn’t great.)

It strikes me as I look back at the photos how vivid the colours are and I am not surprised in the least as how it would inspire the artists who lived and visited Nice and the neighbouring coast line. I have to admit my knowledge of Matisse, Picasso and Cocteau is basic at best but even I could after my visits to the Matisse and Cocteau Museums could appreciate how the landscape is reflected in their work.

The Matisse Museum overlooking Nice, the city in which he lived in for decades, had the stamp of authenticity. Matisse himself and his family donated to the museum housed in a beautiful villa. There is even a slightly bizarre room where in a cabinet designed by his son, there are paper off cuts collected from his studio when he was going through his ‘Jazz’ period. I cannot say I truly appreciated random bits of coloured paper framed but it was definitely a conversation starter.

The biggest impression on me however was that the bright colours in the artwork could also been seen when you looked out the window in the galleries. This was the same when I got to Menton and explored the Jean Cocteau museums that was located right on the sea front. I was suitably jealous of these artists and how they reflected such a bright palate in their work. It’s no mean feat capturing it and my own best attempts can be seen below.

It makes you realise more than anything that to get a true appreciation of anything creative, its helps if you can actually be where it started. Not that I am slating my home country and the fantastic collections here, but I don’t think if I saw the pieces here I would not be able to connect to them as well. For example I would have struggled in believing that such sea blues were possible (my childhood involved a lot of welsh beaches).

It thankfully validates the reason to go to these places (and suffer long horrible hot train journeys) and as the chill of my house hits me again I trying to focus on where to go next.

Angharad x

Matisse Museum in Nice

Cocteau Museum (the funky modern building) on the Menton sea front